Tencent Chief Says Gaming Business Under Threat, Catching Up in AI 

The Tencent logo is seen near computer motherboard in this illustration taken January 8, 2024. (Reuters)
The Tencent logo is seen near computer motherboard in this illustration taken January 8, 2024. (Reuters)
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Tencent Chief Says Gaming Business Under Threat, Catching Up in AI 

The Tencent logo is seen near computer motherboard in this illustration taken January 8, 2024. (Reuters)
The Tencent logo is seen near computer motherboard in this illustration taken January 8, 2024. (Reuters)

Pony Ma, chief executive and co-founder of Tencent Holdings, has said that the company's video games business faces great challenges from competitors but is catching up in artificial intelligence (AI) development.

Ma, speaking at Tencent's annual meeting in a stadium in Shenzhen on Monday, said that the company has been resting on its laurels in gaming while competitors have delivered new hits. Video games account for more than 30% of Tencent’s revenue.

Chinese media outlet Jiemian published parts of Ma’s speech online. A person with direct knowledge of the matter, who declined to be named because they are not permitted to speak to the media, confirmed the contents.

Ma’s speech underscores concerns whether Tencent, the world’s biggest gaming company and the operator of China’s biggest social network WeChat, can defend its status as China’s No.1 tech company at a time marked by intensifying competition and new disruptive technologies.

Tencent did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

“Gaming is our flagship business...But in the past year, we have faced significant challenges,” Ma said, “We have found ourselves at a loss, as our competitors continue to produce new products, leaving us feeling having achieved nothing.”

Ma added that the new games that Tencent has launched had not performed as well as the company had hoped.

Ma’s remarks come at a time when Chinese game developers miHoYo and NetEase have outshone Tencent with hit titles like “Genshin Impact” and “Eggy Party”. While Tencent’s past hits such as “Honor of Kings” and “PUBG Mobile” continue to deliver strong revenue, more recent products are falling short of expectations.

When it comes to AI, Ma said Tencent has caught up. “We can finally follow the pace of the first-tier companies. We don’t count ourselves as the most leading but at least we are not too behind,” he said.

Ma said Tencent’s focus now should be on integrating its “Hunyuan” AI model into different business scenarios as a way to boost efficiency rather than to quickly turn AI into products.

“In the short term, within the next one or two years, I feel like there will not be a massive, AI-native application yet,” he said.

Another focus of Ma’s speech was on live-streaming e-commerce. Tencent has been trying to make WeChat more like ByteDance’ short video platform Douyin in recent years, which has been making massive revenue from live-streaming e-commerce.

“WeChat is our most robust platform regarding daily user amount and its ecosystem. But it is 12 years of age... Now how we can find new sprouts from the old tree that is WeChat is the big question for us,” Ma said.



Downloads of DeepSeek's AI Apps Paused in South Korea Over Privacy Concerns 

People watch a TV reporting DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence startup, during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025. (AP)
People watch a TV reporting DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence startup, during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025. (AP)
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Downloads of DeepSeek's AI Apps Paused in South Korea Over Privacy Concerns 

People watch a TV reporting DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence startup, during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025. (AP)
People watch a TV reporting DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence startup, during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025. (AP)

DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence startup, has temporarily paused downloads of its chatbot apps in South Korea while it works with local authorities to address privacy concerns, South Korean officials said Monday.

South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission said DeepSeek’s apps were removed from the local versions of Apple’s App Store and Google Play on Saturday evening and that the company agreed to work with the agency to strengthen privacy protections before relaunching the apps.

The action does not affect users who have already downloaded DeepSeek on their phones or use it on personal computers. Nam Seok, director of the South Korean commission’s investigation division, advised South Korean users of DeepSeek to delete the app from their devices or avoid entering personal information into the tool until the issues are resolved.

DeepSeek got worldwide attention last month when it claimed it built its popular chatbot at a fraction of the cost of those made by US companies. The resulting frenzy upended markets and fueled debates over competition between the US and China in developing AI technology.

Many South Korean government agencies and companies have either blocked DeepSeek from their networks or prohibited employees from using the app for work, amid worries that the AI model was gathering too much sensitive information.

The South Korean privacy commission, which began reviewing DeepSeek’s services last month, found that the company lacked transparency about third-party data transfers and potentially collected excessive personal information, Nam said.

Nam said the commission did not have an estimate on the number of DeepSeek users in South Korea. A recent analysis by Wiseapp Retail found that DeepSeek was used by about 1.2 million smartphone users in South Korea during the fourth week of January, emerging as the second-most-popular AI model behind ChatGPT.