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Tencent Launched a New Publishing Division Level Infinite Aiming at The Global Gaming Market

The Chinese tech giant accelerates its global expansion.
By Julius Chen
Dec. 9, 2021 updated 05:58

On Dec 7th, Tencent announced its all-new publishing brand Level Infinite. This new division will be in charge of releasing and marketing games from studios owned by Tencent and its collaborating developers. 

According to Level Infinite's website, the initial publishing release slate includes NExT Studios' Synced: Off Planet on PC, Don’t Starve: Newhome on mobile platforms, and titles from Lightspeed & Quantum Studios, TiMi Studio Group, and several third-party developers, such as fan favorites like Arena of Valor, with new and updated content. 

The Level Infinite publishing lineup roaster will be further bolstered with several studios self-publishing their own titles, including Warhammer: Vermintide 2 from Fatshark, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt from Sharkmob, and GTFO from 10 Chambers. 

Level Infinite will be based in Singapore and Amsterdam and have staff around the world.

“Level Infinite’s launch represents the next stage in Tencent Games’ evolution as a global publisher and trusted brand. We look forward to bringing gamers high-quality titles wherever and however they play,” said Tencent Games Global CEO Michelle Liu. 

Facing a more competitive domestic market and the stricter regulations proposed by Beijing on the game industry, the Chinese video game giant is accelerating its expansion into the global gaming market.

As one of the biggest tech companies in the world, Tencent started to expand its global influence by holding and acquiring game enterprises. Over the past decade, Tencent has invested in more than 150 game developers and publishers around the world, including Riot Games, Epic Games, and Supercell. 

Since 2016, Tencent has become the No. 1 video game publisher on the planet and has gained a large number of IP adaption rights through its business operations and acquisition deals. With the rapid growth of its own development capacity, Tencent also began developing derivatives of classic video game IPs. In 2019, the Call of Duty: Mobile developed by Tencent's TiMi Studio saw one of the most financially successful mobile game launches in history, generating over US$480 million with 270 million downloads within a year. Two years later, the Pokémon UNITE developed by TiMi Studio also won a huge success, obtaining the Best Game at Google Play's 2021 awards.

However, Tencent never had an unified publishing body, and these games are always published by different companies in different regions. Call of Duty: Mobile, for example, is published by Activision, Garena, VNG Games, TiMi Studio, and Tencent Games according to the region.

The newly-launched Level Infinite may integrate Tencent's game publishing system in the global market to further consolidate its position as the top game publisher. Level Infinite will also help Tencent promote its own games globally and gain more experience in publishing games on consoles and PC.