Is Tencent’s Empire Next in the Crosshairs Following TikTok’s Ban?

The turmoil surrounding the TikTok prohibition is presently unfolding throughout the US with the application removed either temporarily or permanently based on how the situation develops. The gaming perspective here is that unexpectedly, Marvel Snap was affected because its publisher is ByteDance, the parent entity of TikTok, leading to its unanticipated disconnection.

There has been significant discussion about how the US government might decide to prohibit an entire social platform from operating in the nation, suggesting they may extend this to other social platforms if they disapprove of their operations, potentially even those based in the US. But I’m curious about the implications if they maintain their focus on the Chinese aspect, particularly if they shift their intentions towards one of the largest players in the gaming sector.

This player would be Tencent, the Chinese behemoth that either fully owns or holds substantial interests in enormous video game publishers and developers with many of the world’s top titles, and likewise significant presence in the US. Considering that Congress and the government often appear vastly disconnected from the subjects they oversee, an action of this nature does not seem far-fetched.

The concern surrounding ByteDance was that it posed a possible national security threat due to its status as a Chinese company broadly disseminating an application across the nation. Although there isn’t an equivalent Tencent “app” like TikTok, the assertion might be that Tencent’s deep involvement with numerous major games played by US citizens, especially minors, could signify a “detrimental” Chinese presence or something similar. Furthermore, the US Defense Department has recently expressed its belief that Tencent is connected to the Chinese military. Tencent countered that claim right away:

“As the business is neither a military entity of China nor a military-civil fusion contributor to the Chinese defense sector, it maintains that its listing in the CMC List is an error,” Tencent stated in a communication to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, after the company’s shares dropped 7.3%. This incident…occurred merely 12 days ago.

If Tencent were to be the target, it is difficult to overstate the challenges involved in disentangling this corporation from the gaming industry without causing significant repercussions.

• Tencent possesses 100% ownership of Riot Games, the creator of League of Legends and Valorant.
• Tencent has substantial interests in Supercell, the developer of Clash of Clans and Clash Royale, and Grinding Gear Games, the producer of Path of Exile.
• Tencent holds 29% of the fully diluted shares of Epic, the developer of Fortnite and the creator and licenser of the widely utilized Unreal Engine.
• Tencent maintains minority interests in Ubisoft, Bluehole, Remedy, Platinum Games, and more.

Once more, one could envision how the US might insist that this Chinese entity divest or sell its stakes in either US companies or firms that distribute games nationally, or face the risk of banning those games. At the very least, this would pertain to League of Legends and Valorant, which they fully own. Such a scenario would have seemed extremely implausible a year prior, yet given that regulatory authorities have closed a social network with 170 million users in the US, it doesn’t appear impossible. Additionally, there are other Chinese developers with significant games in the US, such as HoYoverse’s Genshin Impact or NetEase, which produces a variety of titles including the recently acclaimed Marvel Rivals.

Is it likely that something of this nature would occur? Perhaps not, but if the government eventually grasps how intertwined Chinese enterprises are with a vast number of major US video games, many played by children, that could raise concerns. For the moment, I’m uncertain they fully recognize the situation.

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Check out my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.