Tencent plans to take its Steam-like WeGame store global

When Chinese gaming giant Tencent rebranded its digital store as 'WeGame' last year, Andy asked: could a showdown with Steam be in the offing? Tencent is now set to launch an international variation of WeGame, which could make that scenario a reality.

As reported by the South China Morning Post (via gamesindustry.biz), an international version of the store and social platform—currently exclusive to China—will launch in Hong Kong. This instalment is designed to reach players outside of China, and to promote Chinese games overseas.

"The Hong Kong version of WeGame is now under development," a Tencent spokesperson tells the Morning Post. "This version will be available for overseas users, and we will use this platform to bring more Chinese games to the global market."

According to the South China Morning Post, WeGame has 220 titles available for download. This includes games developed overseas, such Don't Starve Together—which is said to have sold two million copies on the platform as of April this year.

Despite WeGame's somewhat modest profile, Tencent owns League of Legends studio Riot Games and mobile game company Supercell—and has holdings in Epic, Activision Blizzard, Robot Entertainment and more. Its total revenue for the 2016 fiscal year was $22 billion.

As we already know, Valve and Perfect World are bringing Steam to China, but neither it nor WeGame's international venture has a launch date.