On October 15, the “Empowering the Industry: Create and Share New Opportunities” 2026 Tencent Games Life Global Partner Conference was successfully held via live online stream.
Under the theme “Empowering the Real Economy: Creating and Sharing New Opportunities,” Tencent Games Life has launched a series of new products, capabilities, and resource policies across three key dimensions—expanding into overseas markets to drive growth, leveraging AI to enhance efficiency, and upgrading scenario-based capabilities—focusing on scenario-based marketing partnerships, mass-market esports services,internet café business growth, brand globalization initiatives, and AI capability upgrades. It has developed a series of new products, capabilities, and resource policies, and is making these innovations available to global partners to help businesses across all industries access new growth opportunities with lower barriers to entry.
In her opening remarks, Gao Li, Vice President of Tencent Games, said, “Tencent Games is very much looking forward to working with partners around the world to explore new models and possibilities, jointly create more engaging and meaningful marketing examples, and use our rich and vibrant content to deliver a higher-quality experience to our users.”
Overseas Game IPs Lead the Way, Helping Businesses "Acquire Customers Locally"
More and more Chinese companies are expanding their businesses overseas, and local brands abroad are also looking to attract young consumers. However, they face a common challenge: while their products have made their way overseas, their localized customer acquisition strategies have not kept pace.
To address this shortcoming, Tencent Games Life has transformed overseas game IPs into localized services—including merchant marketing, esports tournaments, and internet café partnerships—enabling games to serve as a channel for brands to acquire customers locally.Currently, Tencent Games is leveraging globally popular titles such as *PUBG MOBILE*, *Operation Delta*, and *HONOR OF KINGS* to develop a multi-faceted business portfolio—including merchant marketing, in-game perks, and esports tournaments—to help partners expand into overseas markets.
This confidence stems from Tencent Games’ ever-expanding global influence. According to Luo Yihang, Head of Integrated Branding at Tencent Games, the company’s international revenue reached 18.6 billion yuan in the second quarter, representing a 4% year-over-year increase on a constant currency basis;In the first half of the year, overseas revenue from self-developed games reached $12.372 billion, a year-over-year increase of 30.22%; in South Korea, internet cafes also significantly expanded their market share thanks to games such as *PUBG* and *Operation Delta*. In his view, the greater the influence of an IP, the greater the value of a collaboration.
While the platform has already established a global presence, the issue of “cultural mismatch” when expanding overseas also needs to be addressed urgently. Currently, the merchant partnership platform, esports partnership platform, and internet café partnership platform have fully opened up opportunities for overseas game collaborations. These platforms can be customized to align with partners’ overseas business models and game features, helping brands rapidly enhance their local influence and customer acquisition capabilities.
The specific strategy has already proven successful in Southeast Asia, and Tencent’s “Game Life” platform has now fully opened up scene-based marketing and esports partnerships for overseas IPs such as *PUBG MOBILE*,*Operation Delta*, and *HONOR OF KINGS*. Notably, *HONOR OF KINGS* has achieved significant success in merchant partnerships across Southeast Asia over the past year, earning recognition from both Chinese companies expanding overseas and local enterprises.In response to differences in overseas user habits and business environments, the platform has developed a three-step implementation method: distributing redeemable coupons based on local businesses’ digital capabilities; attracting customers through customized content such as cosplayers checking in at locations; and modularly advancing in-app merchant competitions, marketing coupon distribution, and partnerships with brick-and-mortar businesses.
In the areas of esports and internet cafes, the global expansion is also underway. Currently, Tencent’s mass-market esports events have reached 217 countries and regions worldwide, establishing end-to-end service capabilities. This year, the company will further advance official overseas licensing and the development of global third-party esports events, collaborating with global brands, industry organizations, and platforms to accelerate the development of its global ecosystem;The internet café ecosystem has formed deep partnerships with titles such as *Operation Delta*, *Honor of Kings World*, and *Dungeon & Fighter*, with the scope of collaboration now extending to joint international expansion efforts.
AI is integrated throughout the entire process, making collaboration more efficient and hassle-free
In the past, the barriers to cross-industry collaboration were quite high: communicating requirements often took one to two weeks, and sourcing game resources and reviewing past case studies took another two to three days. The lack of talent, technology, and operational experience further deterred many small and medium-sized businesses.
Ouyang Ming, head of Tencent Games Life, said, “We are constantly exploring how to leverage Tencent Games’ robust technological capabilities to closely link the gaming experiences of our vast user base with their everyday spending habits, thereby helping our partners achieve high-quality, efficient business growth.”
To this end, Tencent Games Life has launched a comprehensive suite of AI services, including the use of AI to analyze and distill insights from a vast amount of historical partnership data, helping partners achieve more precise ROI control;It has also introduced the Internet Cafe Xiao Ka Operations Assistant, the Tournament AI Operations Assistant, and the Customized Partnership Solution Assistant to automate partnership workflow configuration and business analysis, thereby providing partners with lower barriers to entry, more precise user reach, and more efficient conversions.
Tong Xiang, Head of Partnerships at Tencent Games Life, provided a more intuitive comparison of the situation before and after AI integration: the time required to gather client requirements was reduced from 1 to 2 weeks to less than 1 hour through AI-powered automatic extraction, while resource and solution recommendations were delivered instantly, down from 2 to 3 days.AI has been integrated throughout the entire process—from需求识别, solution recommendations, and performance forecasting to post-launch reviews and guidance for the next phase of collaboration—resulting in “an improvement of more than one order of magnitude” in the accuracy of需求识别, the precision of resource selection, and client satisfaction with results.
He also explained that the upcoming official AI Partnership Assistant functions like a “digital employee,” incorporating best practices and methods from all past collaborations with game and industry clients. Partners can access solutions using natural language on WeChat or WeChat Work, “getting the best solutions in the shortest amount of time.”Gao Li also noted that the technology to quickly generate a gaming tournament via AI-powered natural language commands is now fully mature, and it comes with value-added features such as AI commentary, subtitles, and post-match analysis.
Delta Operation: Search, Fight, Retreat, Shoot—FPS Survival. Based on the overall experience of Season 8, *Delta Operation* has certainly delivered quite a few surprises to players this season. The revamped classic maps offer players plenty of fresh experiences and expanded tactical possibilities, while the introduction of new operatives provides more flexibility in team composition.
In specific business scenarios, AI is becoming a tangible driver of growth.According to Huang Tianlan, head of Tencent Games’ “Life” tournament division, AI features—such as one-click generation of customized partnership proposals, AI-powered pre-screening to expedite authorization, AI commentary, intelligent data dashboards, and personalized user recommendations—have been integrated throughout the entire tournament organization process, enabling partners to “organize tournaments more easily, reach audiences more precisely, and achieve quantifiable results.”
In retail settings, AI-generated coupons are precisely matched to consumer preferences and geographic location, and users are guided by AI mascots on how to redeem them, resulting in significantly higher conversion and redemption rates.In internet cafes, the “Xiao Ka” AI Operations Assistant launched by Tencent Game Life precisely pushes promotions, benefits, and tournaments during breaks in gameplay without interrupting the gaming experience. During pilot tests, the average time spent in-store by users at a single internet cafe increased to up to 2.5 times the pre-implementation level. Additionally, this AI operations system will be made available free of charge to all ecosystem partners.Jiang Zheliang, Product Manager of Tencent Game Life, stated: “Tencent Games has developed a sophisticated user operations capability, and now we are putting it into the hands of every store owner—free of charge.”
The "Game of Life" AI service has also expanded to address broader social issues. As Jingdezhen’s traditional handcrafted porcelain heritage was inscribed on the World Heritage List,Tencent Games utilized technologies such as AI avatars and AI-generated 3D models to visualize the heritage value of Jingdezhen and make its traditional craftsmanship interactive. Through in-game skins and events in 10 different games, the company launched cross-promotional campaigns centered on Jingdezhen, enabling more young people to rediscover the city and understand the significance of its World Heritage designation.
Upgrades to Four Key Scenarios Address Five Key Needs
In response to the diverse business needs of partners across different scenarios, Tencent Game Life is simultaneously advancing capability upgrades in four key areas—retail merchants, internet cafes, universities, and esports tournaments—transforming its gaming capabilities into growth solutions that are easy to integrate and can be replicated and implemented.
In the merchant ecosystem, to help brands transition from “running a one-time campaign” to “establishing a long-term presence within the gaming ecosystem,” Tencent Game Life has launched a marketing product called “Tencent Game Goose,” offering a more engaging format to drive business growth through merchant marketing.According to Yang Xian, Product Manager of the Tencent Game Life Merchant Platform, “Tencent Game Goose” builds a cycle of “playing games, raising geese, and redeeming real-life benefits” by enabling players to connect with brands in an efficient and customized way:Players’ active time spent in Tencent games is converted into “goose feed” for raising geese, and goose eggs can be redeemed for real-life benefits—thereby transforming brand engagement from “advertising push” to “user-initiated redemption”;Brands can also co-create co-branded in-game items, set up digital stores, and design NFC in-store tasks to achieve rapid and stable customer acquisition.
Focusing on five key areas—exposure, reach, in-store visits, private domains, and young users—Tencent Games Life also offers a comprehensive solution: 20 co-published gaming events per month covering 23 games, with the addition of private domain integration, where players must first add the corporate WeChat account and join a community before claiming prizes, enabling sustainable operations through targeted user retention;Coupon distribution capabilities have been expanded to multiple games and PC gaming scenarios, including “Operation Delta,” “Da Duan Dan,” “QQ Farm,” and “QQ Internet Cafe,” with each title distributing millions of coupons weekly; for in-store check-ins, in-game push notifications guide players to use NFC tap-to-check-in or scan a QR code to check in,with the platform handling all promotional materials, NFC cards, and technical systems, ensuring zero technical barriers for merchants to onboard. Results have already proven successful: the “Lock Kingdom” event in Shanghai generated 12,000 card taps in a single session, while the “Ba Wan” partnership in Changsha saw a 228% increase in orders.
Capabilities have also been upgraded simultaneously in settings such as internet cafes, universities, and esports tournaments. For the internet cafe sector, QQ Internet Cafe has upgraded its partnership model to a three-tier open ecosystem comprising “platform × game × store.” This year, for the first time, it integrated with Meituan, Dianping, and Douyin, providing nearly 20,000 internet cafes with free exposure and driving a 40% year-over-year increase in in-store visitors.As of July, exclusive benefits had increased the average dwell time for users at partner locations by 37%. Rough estimates indicate that this has generated over 1 billion yuan in cumulative revenue growth for partner locations. Additionally, League of Legends has opened an application channel for authorized tournaments to eligible Diamond-level internet cafes;In college commercial districts, the platform has unlocked 119 heroes and 189 skins for *Honor of Kings*, as well as college-exclusive benefits for games like *Naruto: Shippuden Mobile* and *QQ Dance Mobile*, using NFC “tap-to-connect” technology to precisely target the college student demographic;In terms of esports, the platform has opened more than 30 public tournament tracks centered around over 20 core games. In-app merchant tournaments have cumulatively served hundreds of brands across 23 industries, generating 3.58 billion impressions.Moving forward, the platform will continue to expand in five key areas: co-hosted brand tournaments, government-enterprise-culture-tourism collaborations, brick-and-mortar operations, global expansion, and AI innovation.
The conference also featured live video calls with frontline partners sharing their firsthand experiences: Liu Yuhang, Head of Channel Operations at “Grandpa Doesn’t Brew Tea,” and Wang Leyang, Head of Industry Partnerships at Tencent Games Life, discussed how food and beverage brands can attract young customers through in-game coupon distribution and NFC in-store promotions;Wu Lei, Project Manager for Intel China’s Esports Venue Program; Lin Feng, Vice President of Wangyu; Hu Yanping, Director of the Basic Product Center at Shunwang Technology; Chen Xiaoxia, Deputy General Manager of Changwan Esports; and Wu Jinchang, Head of Operations for Tencent Game Life’s QQ Internet Cafe Platform, discussed the collaborative development of an ecosystem involving hardware manufacturers, network maintenance platforms, chain internet cafes, and the platform itself;Heng Xin, Head of Brand, Marketing, and Esports at Ninebot; Huang Shaqing, General Manager of Shenwan Chuangke; and Yao Yao, Head of Esports Partnerships at Tencent Game Life, shared growth strategies for integrating mass-market esports events with commercial districts and physical spaces.
Conclusion
As Tencent Games’ official merchant partnership and esports service platform, Tencent Games Life is committed to helping businesses across all industries drive growth through Tencent’s high-quality game IP content and solution capabilities. Currently, Tencent Games Life has partnered with over 6,000 brands outside the gaming industry, hosts more than 200 annual marketing campaigns, and has distributed over 350 million coupons through the platform;On the esports side, the platform covers more than 20 core games and over 30 mainstream esports categories, reaching 80 million core users and bringing together more than 2,000 deep-engagement partners; QQ Internet Cafés has surpassed 50 million monthly users, with monthly active users increasing 2.5-fold from 2022 to 2025.
Today, gaming has long transcended the realm of mere entertainment, becoming a key driver for reaching young people, stimulating consumer spending, and connecting global markets.The 2026 Tencent Games Life Global Partner Conference showcased not only a series of new products, capabilities, and policies, but also a long-term path of mutual benefit where gaming and the real economy “create and share new opportunities.” Through diverse industry collaborations, Tencent Games Life is poised to become a key fulcrum for brands across various sectors to tap into the youth market and pursue global growth.
原创文章，作者：游茶妹儿，禁止转载：https://youxichaguan.com/en/archives/221840
