Tencent has again failed to win approval for new video games after China’s top media regulator issued a list of 84 titles that omitted the industry leader for the second time in a fortnight.
Last year’s hiatus pummelled Tencent’s share price, which shed a third of its value from a January peak. Tencent dominates the gaming market in China, which is the biggest in the world, and relied on the sector for 40 per cent of revenues in the three months to the end of September.
Shares perked up at the tail-end of the year ahead of the resumption in commercial licensing on December 29, when the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television issued its first batch of approvals for 80 online games.