Tencent’s set for fastest growth since 2018 after outbreak
疫情之后，腾讯准备好迎接自 2018 年以来的最快增长

Tencent Holdings Ltd. picked up millions of new gamers during the global coronavirus outbreak — yet that surge in mobile play may be slowing as the world’s No.2 economy goes back to work.
在全球新冠疫情暴发期间，腾讯控股有限公司收获了数百万新游戏玩家。不过，随着中国这一世界第二大经济体开始复工，手游用户高速增长的趋势可能逐渐放缓。
The quest for entertainment among millions confined to home translated into a big boost for Tencent’s marquee games, Honor of Kings and Peacekeeper Elite.*** That helped the company gain $25 billion of market value up to March 5, before a global market rout torpedoed the stock along with the rest of the market. WeChat operator Tencent is now expected to report its fastest pace of revenue growth since 2018 when it unveils fourth-quarter results on Wednesday, and investors will look for assurances it can sustain that pace of topline expansion.
疫情期间数百万人被迫宅在家中，他们对娱乐的诉求，极大地推动了腾讯旗下两大王牌游戏（《王者荣耀》与《和平精英》）的增长。受此影响，截至 3 月 5 日，在全球市场崩溃导致股市和其他市场受挫之前，腾讯的市值增长了 250 亿美元。按照目前的预期，即将在本周三公布的四季报中，微信运营商腾讯有望发布其自 2018 年以来最快的营收增长。投资者将会寻求保证，确认腾讯能维持最快的扩张速度。
But the outlook may be less clear-cut than anticipated and any gains from the pandemic may prove short-lived. While the bread-and-butter Peacekeeper Elite showed strong growth in the first days of March, sales from other major games dwindled and overall revenue fell for the sixth straight week, according to Sensor Tower data. Tencent’s social and video ad businesses are also expected to take a hit this quarter when merchants and brands tighten their budgets.
但腾讯的前景可能不如预期中明朗，得益于疫情的增长也或许十分短暂。据 Sensor Tower 发布的数据，尽管腾讯的拳头游戏产品《和平精英》在三月的头几天表现出强劲的增长势头，但其他几款主要游戏的销售额都有所下跌，整体收益已整整下滑了六周。由于贸易商和品牌方都收紧预算，预计本季度腾讯的社交和视频广告业务也会遭受巨大打击。
In the longer term, the bigger problem may be ByteDance Inc. The world’s largest startup has been luring users and advertisers away to its addictive apps like news aggregator Toutiao and video platform Douyin, TikTok’s Chinese twin. Now, ByteDance is trying to diversify its revenue stream into arenas such as paid music services and full-fledged video games, posing potential threats to Tencent’s online content empire.
长期来看，腾讯所面临的更大问题可能是字节跳动公司。作为全球最大的创业公司，它旗下拥有新闻聚合类应用今日头条，和 TikTok 的国内版、视频平台抖音等 app。这些 app 魔力十足，吸引走了大批用户和广告商。如今，字节跳动正杀入付费音乐服务和成熟的游戏行业等战场，以实现公司营收的来源多样化。这对腾讯的线上内容帝国构成了潜在威胁。