Tencent, the China-only company, has released its global video game client named WeGame X which will now sell games worldwide. Tencent might be based and limited in China however it owns shares in many major video game companies. They own Riot Games and have a 40% share in Epic Games. They also have shares in Activision-Blizzard and Ubisoft.
This shows that their presence was not really limited in China until now however with WeGame, Tencent has now officially made its base in markets outside China. If you consider Tencent’s digital storefront working inside China, it has around 200 million users. These are their numbers while limited to one country only which is way more than Steam in China.
Their China-only gaming platform is called Tencent Games Platform which has a decent number of games and it is much bigger when compared to Steam in China. Their global digital video game client is called WeGame X and its servers are based in Hong Kong. Since the client has just been released, there are around 17 games on it. WeGame X is still in Early Access so we can expect some bugs and glitches in the client.
Apart from 17 games, the client features some really cool features which include cloud saves, offline mode, user reviews, and tag search. You will mostly indie titles on the client and more games will arrive on the client in due time. There are some free-to-play titles on the client as well however you will need to check their description whether they offer localized language for your country or not.
With more games arriving on the client in the future, it looks WeGame X could be a decent client for Tencent’s global debut. What remains to be seen is how the fans respond to WeGame X and are they willing to accept another video game store for PC gaming. Normally earlier reviews from fans are not good because clients miss a lot of features which are present in established clients such as Steam or Origin.
Epic launched its own digital store last year and it has been nabbing some PC exclusives which has been frustrating the fans. It is yet to be seen whether Tencent is going to use the same tactics to attract people to its client or they will go for a fair competition. If Tencent goes in the same direction as Epic, it should be ready for some serious fan outcry over nabbing exclusives.
You can check out the official website of WeGame X and check the games available at their store at this point.
