The colossal Chinese game publisher Tencent is making a global version of WeGame, its own PC gaming distribution and social platform. WeGame is currently only available in China.
“The Hong Kong version of WeGame is now under development,” a spokesperson told the South China Morning Post. “This version will be available for overseas users, and we will use this platform to bring more Chinese games to the global market.”
Tencent has a lot of ground to make up. WeGame only launched in September last year, though it did build upon the pre-existing Tencent Games Platform. Its catalogue presently comprises only 220 games – a mix of Chinese titles and a select few from overseas. Expanding into Hong Kong – where websites can be accessed by Chinese users, yet are not subject to regulation by the Chinese government – is a sensible first step to bringing more games onto the platform. Tencent’s many investments in major western studios, such as Activision-Blizzard and Ubisoft, will most likely also help in that regard.
Which of these exciting upcoming PC games are about to release in China via WeGame, not Steam?
Here’s the story in theSouth China Morning Post(in English), which comes to us viaGamesIndustry.biz. As GI.biz points out, Tencent will likely have been galvanised by the recent announcement ofSteam China– a collaboration between Valve and Perfect World, who also helped Valve bring CS:GO to China.Perfect World are one of Tencent’s local rivals – Valve’s partnership with the former extends to Dota 2, a leading competitor to League of Legends, which is owned by the latter.