China's Tencent back to growth, sets out new games

STORY: China's Tencent returned to revenue growth in the first quarter.

The company saw a recovery from health crisis disruptions and tight regulation of gaming licenses.

Revenue at the world's largest video game firm rose just over a tenth to $21.7 billion.

That was well above analyst projections for the WeChat owner.

Net profit was also up 11% to $3.6 billion, though that was slightly below forecasts.

Tencent posted its first yearly revenue decline last year after it was hit by China's tough lockdowns.

It also faced a months-long freeze on gaming licenses by Chinese regulators that stopped it releasing new titles.

But authorities resumed license approvals last year, and on Monday (May 15) Tencent released a plan for new games.

Two of its most popular titles - Honor of Kings and CrossFire - earned record revenue thanks to new features and promotions.

Domestic gaming revenue rose 6%, while internationally it was up a quarter.

Revenue from online ads also jumped by just under a fifth to $3 billion.