China’s Tencent bets on cloud computing growth abroad as its core video games business takes a beating

Tencent has faced a number of headwinds in 2022 including a Covid-induced slowdown in the Chinese economy and a tougher market for gaming.

As it searches for new avenues for growth, it will launch new cloud computing products for overseas markets.

A launch event for a suite of cloud-based audio and video products will be held on Thursday by the Chinese company.

As China's economy slows, Tencent needs to find new sources of growth outside of the country. China's tech companies face a tougher regulatory environment at home.

Online games have been hurt by tighter regulation. The amount of time people under the age of 18 could play online games was cut last year. The approval of new games was frozen for several months, meaning companies like NetEase could not launch new games.

There are signs that there could be an end to the gaming ban. Revenue from domestic online games fell in the third quarter.

Online gaming is the second biggest revenue driver, so a slowdown is a drag on growth.

Cloud computing is seen as an area that could pick up the slack. In the third quarter, the company's cloud computing division grew 4% compared to a year ago.

Chinese tech giants are also looking for new revenue sources overseas. The e-commerce company has used its brands to expand abroad, for example, while the online games company has been successful.

Cloud computing is something that is being banked on by the company. Live streaming for e- commerce or online meetings are some of the audio and visual products released Wednesday.

The products are meant for companies that want the services but don't want to maintain the infrastructure or build their own features.

The strategy of the company could be to try to sign up global firms with a presence in China as well as Chinese companies expanding abroad. BMW uses some of the cloud products.

The cloud computing market in the US is dominated by Amazon and Microsoft. In the last few years, the international push of cloud computing has been late compared to that of rivalAlibaba. The five largest cloud computing firms are:

One of the world's largest gaming companies and the owner of the most popular messaging app in China plays to its strengths as it focuses on audio and video products.