Tencent’s online gaming platform—and a likely competitor to Steam—WeGame will be fully online on September 1st, according to the company’s official website.
In addition to the date announcement, WeGame said that the platform has been receiving a makeover since July and that it will provide more games, content, and services, creating an open ecosystem for gaming.
Tencent upgraded gaming platform TGP (Tencent Games Platform) into WeGame in April 2017 when it announced that it aims to support players from all over the world. The company also said that it will no longer host web or mobile games but instead only focus on PC and standalone games. The new platform will put Tencent in direct competition with the biggest digital store for PC games, Steam, owned by Valve Corporation.
Tencent is currently the biggest gaming company in the world by game revenue. Its recent mega hit “Strike of Kings” (AKA “Honour of Kings” or “Arena of Valor”) has become the world’s most profitable game.
The company owns League of Legends developer Riot Games and has stakes in Activision Blizzard, Supercell, and Epic Games. Its newest figures for H1 of 2017 showed record revenue growth of 57 percent to RMB 106.16 billion ($15.67 billion) while profits hit RMB 32.8 billion.
Tencent’s main competitor in China’s gaming market, NetEase, has also been making waves recently, announcing its expansion to foreign markets.