China Gaming Restrictions Redux – Market Seems to Be in Denial

Tencent Holdings – Modern Day Opium War

China Gaming Restrictions Are FAR More Severe Than the Market Is Assuming

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Forensic Analyst

Jason Yap, CFA

Forensic Accounting

<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/tencent-holdings-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26:1" rel="noopener">Tencent (700 HK)</a>'s share price retreated 3.2% overnight on news that China would restrict playing time for minors to 3 hours a week - that is, 8pm to 9pm time slots on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with an extra hour on public holidays.  The share price erased these losses and recorded an intra-day gain of 3.3% by Tuesday's market close, suggesting that regulatory concerns were assuaged by Tencent's affirmation of low single-digit revenue contribution of minors. 
Insight Provider Mio Kato wrote a unique but sensible piece about how the market may have misunderstood the significance of the restrictions, with the implications for the long-term growth of the industry more severe and an appreciation of the relevant issues would come sooner.  A key thrust of the argument is that habit-formation of gaming at an early age would be disrupted to an extent that gaming habits and user time spent do not carry over into adulthood. 
Tencent's gaming revenue is derived primarily from the sales of in-game virtual items and the provision of adjacent services.  In this article, we expand on the above argument by highlighting how the habit-formation disruption not only affects user time spent but also have a knock-on impact with respect to in-game virtual item spending, subscription, and IP consumption. 
Further, Tencent's revenue recognition on the provision of online games heavily depends on management's assumptions of the gamer's usage profile, which was in turn determined based on past gaming habits. This was historically raised as a Key Audit Matter in Tencent's Audit Opinions. Accordingly, we also discuss in this article how the underlying management assumptions might change as a result of the regulations and consequent impact on Tencent's gaming revenues.

Tencent (700 HK)'s share price retreated 3.2% overnight on news that China would restrict playing time for minors to 3 hours a week - that is, 8pm to 9pm time slots on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with an extra hour on public holidays.  The share price erased these losses and recorded an intra-day gain of 3.3% by Tuesday's market close, suggesting that regulatory concerns were assuaged by Tencent's affirmation of low single-digit revenue contribution of minors. 
Insight Provider Mio Kato wrote a unique but sensible piece about how the market may have misunderstood the significance of the restrictions, with the implications for the long-term growth of the industry more severe and an appreciation of the relevant issues would come sooner.  A key thrust of the argument is that habit-formation of gaming at an early age would be disrupted to an extent that gaming habits and user time spent do not carry over into adulthood. 
Tencent's gaming revenue is derived primarily from the sales of in-game virtual items and the provision of adjacent services.  In this article, we expand on the above argument by highlighting how the habit-formation disruption not only affects user time spent but also have a knock-on impact with respect to in-game virtual item spending, subscription, and IP consumption. 
Further, Tencent's revenue recognition on the provision of online games heavily depends on management's assumptions of the gamer's usage profile, which was in turn determined based on past gaming habits. This was historically raised as a Key Audit Matter in Tencent's Audit Opinions. Accordingly, we also discuss in this article how the underlying management assumptions might change as a result of the regulations and consequent impact on Tencent's gaming revenues. 

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