中國科技巨頭騰訊控股最近完成了對Riot Games的收購。Riot Games是世界熱門游戲《英雄聯盟》的開發商。

據SuperData Research公司統計，這款游戲每月的玩家人數超過1億，每年為位于洛杉磯的開發商創造約15億美元收入。

騰訊在2011年2月以4億美元收購了Riot Games的多數股份（93%）。研究公司EEDAR分析師帕特里克?沃克表示，Riot當時的估值為5億美元。

沃克表示：“據EEDAR估算，目前《英雄聯盟》每年的收入將超過10億美元，這意味著Riot的價值遠遠超過10億美元，為獲得Riot的剩余股份，騰訊應該要花一大筆錢。”

在多人聯機在線競技游戲興起之初，騰訊便看到了它的潛力。騰訊在2008年11月便獲得了《英雄聯盟》的中國代理權，并在2009年首次投資Riot Games公司。

《英雄聯盟》深受中國玩家的喜愛。據研究機構Newzoo估算，《英雄聯盟》每月的活躍用戶有8500萬，其中至少4000萬位于中國。

Newzoo公司 CEO彼得?沃爾曼表示：“兩年前，騰訊曾間接表示，僅有半數《英雄聯盟》玩家來自中國。現在，這款游戲已經是中國最受歡迎的多人聯機在線競技游戲。同樣重要的是，它也是中國規模最大的電子競技項目。”

沃爾曼認為，騰訊主要有三個首要任務：擴大其在西方游戲市場中的份額，發展全球手機游戲市場，主導中國的電子競技產業。

沃爾曼認為，騰訊主要有三個首要任務：擴大其在西方游戲市場中的份額，發展全球手機游戲市場，主導中國的電子競技產業。

與西方發行商不同，亞洲的游戲發行商通常采取的策略是控制內容和發行渠道。

沃爾曼說道：“騰訊在中國繁榮的在線廣告業務擁有更大的份額，因此，從中長期來看，電子競技將成為獲取新收入，并推動公司發展的關鍵途徑。此外，相比西方發行商的作法，騰訊還可以將它的PC和手機游戲變成真正的娛樂特許經營業務。”

雖然Riot Games是騰訊全球視頻游戲策略的一個關鍵部分，但它也只是其中一個環節。沃爾曼表示，騰訊在Glue Mobile占有顯著份額，并且擁有動視暴雪至少10%的股份。動視暴雪最近以59億美元收購了King Digital Entertainment 公司。

沃爾曼說道：“騰訊間接控制了全球前十大游戲公司約三分之一的游戲收入。”

此外，騰訊在動視暴雪不斷發展的電子競技業務中也占有一定的份額。動視發行公司已經對電子競技領域進行了長達5年的投入，還計劃在2016年舉辦總獎金高達300萬美元的“使命召喚世界聯賽”。暴雪娛樂也有非常活躍的電子競技聯賽，競賽項目包括《星際爭霸2》、《爐石傳說》、《風暴英雄》和玩家人數越來越多的《魔獸世界》。

雖然包括阿里巴巴在內的許多中國公司都受到了經濟低迷的影響，但騰訊卻保持著繁榮的發展態勢。截至2015年9月，騰訊的市場估值達到2300億美元。除了網絡業務，騰訊還有超過10億微信和QQ用戶。分析師相信，騰訊對視頻游戲業務的投資遠沒有結束。

SuperData公司CEO約斯特?范德倫表示：“騰訊的前景無可限量。我可以想象騰訊會投資一家游戲發行商，例如Wargaming。只要騰訊發現一款它喜歡的游戲——當然是按照它的標準——它便會決定自己開發和完善這款游戲，或者投資和收購開發這款游戲的公司。（財富中文網）

譯者：劉進龍/汪皓

審校：任文科

Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings recently completed its acquisition of Riot Games, the developer behind the world’s top eSports game,League of Legends.

The game has over 100 million monthly players, which generate approximately $1.5 billion annually for the Los Angeles-based developer, according to SuperData Research.

The company acquired a majority stake (93%) of Riot Games back in February 2011 for a reported $400 million. According to Patrick Walker, analyst at research firm EEDAR, Riot was valued at $500 million back then.

“With EEDAR estimating current League of Legendsrevenues to be more than $1 billion per year, this means that the value of Riot is significantly higher than $1 billion and Tencent would have paid a lot of money for the remaining 7% of the company’s shares,” Walker says.

Tencent TCEHY 0.36% had seen the potential for the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game from its inception. The company signed a Chinese distribution deal for League of Legends in November 2008 and made an initial investment in Riot Games in 2009.

Chinese gamers love League of Legends. The game has 85 million monthly active users, at least 40 million of whom are in China, according to estimates from research firm Newzoo.

“Two years ago, Tencent indirectly stated that just over half of their players were from China,” says Newzoo CEO Peter Warman. “It is by far the leading MOBA in China and, equally important, the biggest eSports franchise.”

Warman believes that Tencent has three main priorities: growing its share of the Western games market as a whole, growing the global mobile games market, and dominating eSports in China.

Tencent has three main priorities: growing its share of the Western games market as a whole, growing the global mobile games market, and dominating eSports in China.

Different from Western publishers, Asian game publishers most often have a strategy that involves owning content as well as distribution channels.

“ESports is a key route to new revenues and company growth for the medium- to long-term future, giving Tencent a larger share of China’s booming online ad business,” Warman says. “It also allows them to build out their PC and mobile game titles into true entertainment franchises comparable to what Western publishers have done.”

While Riot Games is a key part of Tencent’s global video game strategy, it’s but one piece of the pie. Warman says Tencent controls a significant share of Glu Mobile and has at least a 10% stake in Activision Blizzard Inc. ATVI 1.21% , which recently acquired King Digital Entertainment for $5.9 billion.

“Indirectly, Tencent partially controls about a third of the revenues generated by the top 10 global companies, according to game revenues,” Warman says.

Tencent also owns a piece of Activision Blizzard’s growing eSports business. Activision Publishing has the $3 million Call of Duty World League launching in 2016, an expansion of the publisher’s five-year commitment to eSports. And Blizzard Entertainment has active eSports leagues aroundStarCraft 2, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, and a growing World of Warcraft audience.

While many Chinese companies, including Alibaba BABA 2.38% , have been hurt by the down economy in China, Tencent has prospered. The company had a $230 billion market valuation as of September 2015. In addition to its web business, the company has over 1 billion users of its mobile chat products WeChat and QQ. And analysts believe Tencent isn’t finished investing in the video game business.

“For a firm like Tencent, the sky’s the limit,” says SuperData CEO Joost van Dreunen. “I can imagine a scenario in which Tencent would invest in a publisher like Wargaming, for instance. Whenever Tencent sees a game they like—based on specific metrics, of course—it decides to either build it itself and improve on it, or invest and acquire the firm behind it.”