(Yicai Global) July 5 -- Tencent Holdings, the world’s biggest mobile game vendor, invested in 27 gaming companies in the first half, one every seven days on average, as the Chinese internet giant ensures it stays ahead of the pack.

This round of investment is mainly defensive, Securities Daily reported today, citing analysts. There is a lot of pressure from ByteDance Technology, Alibaba Group Holding and other competitors who are muscling into the gaming field.

“Tencent keeps expanding its product lines by investing in excellent game developers of massive-multiplayer on-line, role play, simulation, card and leisure games to eliminate the possibility of any new gaming giants emerging,” an industry analyst said.

‘Genshin Impact,’ developed by rival miHoYo Technology Shanghai, overtook Tencent’s Arena of Valor to become the world’s highest-earning mobile game in the month after its release on Sept. 28 last year, grossing USD250 million.

Meanwhile ByteDance’s gaming unit Nuverse released ‘One Piece: The Bloodline’ earlier this year, which shot up to first place on that day's ranking of iOS free games.

Shenzhen-based Tencent has been in the gaming field since 2003 when it set up Tencent Games, and as such has first mover advantage, the analyst said. It is still difficult to shake its dominant position despite great efforts by ByteDance and Alibaba, he added.

Beijing-based ByteDance started to move into gaming three years ago, opening gaming accounts on its news aggregator Toutiao and the Chinese version of TikTok, Douyin. It has also bought stakes in gaming firms Mokun Technology and Shanghe Network technology.

Alibaba is not far behind. It took over game publisher Jianyue Information Technology, also known as eJoy, in 2017, whose ‘Three Kingdoms Tactics’ ranked top among mobile free games in the month it began an open beta test in 2019.

Editor: Kim Taylor