Launched back in April 2017 in China, and then globally in 2019, the video game platform WeGame was meant to rival Steam, however, Tencent decided to abort the mission and by early September 2022 the service will completely shut down.
The portal’s application won’t be downloadable come July 15 and all operations regarding everything else will be dead by this September. It was an ambitious project and certainly had solid ground when it first launched, especially in its home country China.
WeGame already closed new user registrations and as stated earlier you won’t be able to download the app in a few days. The news comes from an email sent by the app’s operation team per South China Morning Post.
Tencent faces problems at home
Outside home grounds Tencent is doing well, however, the publishing giant has been facing a number of problems at home. Just a month ago Tencent shut down its streaming platform Penguin eSports due to the Chinese government not allowing the company’s merger plans with Huya (a Tencent company) and DouYu (a Chinese video live streaming service).
The video games company also suffered another setback at home, when China’s regulation body for video game licensing NPPA excluded Tencent and didn’t give approval for publishing licenses in the country.
The Chinese gaming giant also reported a drop in profitability in the first quarter of 2022, seeing a 52% fall in profitability ratio.
Having said all these, Tencent has been growing rapidly despite the obstacles company faces day in and day out. In 2022, Tencent acquired Back 4 Blood developer Turtle Rock Studios and 1C Entertainment.
The company also has been applying an aggressive publishing policy worldwide with its new publishing division Level Infinite.
