Nintendo enters Chinese market through Tencent partnership
Nintendo is finally set to enter the Chinese market after forming a partnership with Tencent to sell the Switch console in China.
Tencent and Nintendo will be banking on the portable nature of the Switch console / Nintendo
The move, which also includes the new Super Mario Bros game, will see the Japanese gaming giant enter the world’s biggest gaming market.
The news prompted a surge in Nintendo shares which leapt more than 16%.
The partnership is a result of approval from Guangdong regulators, however, Nintendo and Tencent will require approval for every game release in China.
It comes off the back of a major crackdown on gaming titles last year by the Chinese government, which led to a series of rejections for Tencent titles, which impacted the company’s bottom line.
China’s gaming market is dominated by PC and mobile games as consoles were banned by the government until 2014. In recent years consoles have struggled to make an impact despite significant plays by Sony and Microsoft to push the PlayStation and XBox.
Tencent and Nintendo will be banking on the portable nature of the Switch console and the dominance of the Tencent brand to boost the platform in China.
Tencent boasted the strongest revenues of all gaming companies in 2018, with revenues of $19.7bn up nearly 10% on the previous year. The figures, released by Newzoo, revealed the gaming giant accounted for 15% of the total global games revenues and has a significant lead on the Sony which posted a whopping 41% increase to reach $14.2bn.