Tencent CEO Pyth Ma Reveals Big Challenges In Video Game Business And AI Progress

Tencent, China's largest gaming company and largest social networking operator, WeChat (photo: x @TencentGames)

JAKARTA - Tencent Holdings founder and CEO Pip Ma stated that his company's video game business faces major challenges from competitors but has managed to catch up in the development of artificial intelligence (AI).

Ma, speaking at Tencent's annual meeting at a stadium in Shenzhen on Monday 29 January, said the company had been complacent in gaming while competitors had launched new successful products. Video games account for more than 30% of Tencent's revenue.

Chinese media, Jiemian, published part of Ma's speech online. Sources who declined to be named for not being allowed to speak to the media confirmed the contents.

Ma's speech highlighted concerns whether Tencent, China's largest gaming company and China's largest social network operator, WeChat, could maintain its status as China's largest technology company as competition becomes increasingly intense and disruptive new technologies emerge.

"The game is our main business... But in the past year, we've faced big challenges," Ma said. "We feel out of direction, because our competitors continue to produce new products, leaving us feeling nothing."

Ma added that the new game that Tencent launched did not perform as well as the company had hoped.

Ma's remarks came at a time when Chinese game developers miHoYo and NetEase had outperformed Tencent with success titles such as "Genshin Impact" and "Eggy Party". While successful Tencent's games such as "Honor of Kings" and "PUBG Mobile" continue to generate strong income, the latest products are less than expectations.

When talking about AI, Ma said Tencent had caught up. "We can finally follow in the footsteps of first-class companies. We don't think of ourselves as the most superior but at least we don't miss it too much," he said.

Ma said Tencent's focus should now be on integrating the "Hunyuan" AI model into different business scenarios as a way to increase efficiency rather than quickly converting AI into a product.

"In the short term, in the next year or two, I feel there will be no massive large AI app," he said.

Another focus of Ma's speech is on e-commerce live streaming. Tencent has tried to make WeChat more similar to ByteDance's short video platform, Douyin, in recent years, which has generated huge revenues from e-commerce live streaming.

"WeChat is our strongest platform in terms of the number of daily users and its ecosystem. But it's been 12 years... Now how can we find a new shoot from an old tree is a big question for us," said Ma.