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I was rather surprised a couple of weeks ago when I received an email from a PR firm representing Tencent Games. I’m familiar with Tencent, but never had much in the way of professional interaction with them, nor this PR firm. I think that even among gamers, not many people know the name Tencent, but they’re probably the biggest games company in the world. Even if you didn’t realise it, there’s a good chance that your gaming diet includes a slice of pie that they’ve had their finger in. They own the majority of the Chinese mobile and PC gaming market, but also own stakes in the likes of Epic, Ubisoft, Activision Blizzard, Frontier, Riot, Supercell and Paradox.

When I saw they were inviting me to go undercover to attend an event for PUBG Mobile, they piqued my curiosity. My main focus both in terms of what kind of games I cover on SavyGamer, and what I personally play, doesn’t really fall in line with PUBG Mobile. But it seemed like a great opportunity to gain some insight into some areas that represent a blind spot in my otherwise comprehensive areas of expertise in contemporary games industry. I was fascinated by the intersection between what might often be considered as the hyper-casual world of top grossing mobile F2P games, and the hyper-hardcore world of professional tier competitive gaming. (more…)