China’s Tencent Holdings (0700.HKG) will begin offering the blockbuster US video game “Call of Duty” in China under a licensing agreement with Activision Blizzard (ATVI.NASDAQ, AIY.FRA), Bloomberg reported. Tencent announced the deal Tuesday on its website. The game, which is a direct competitor of Tencent’s own “Crossfire,” is expected to earn approximately US$500 million in revenues at the end of its first full year, said Michael Pachter, a US-based analyst for Wedbush Securities. Tencent stock gained 2.7% on the news while Activision stock rose 4.3%. Tencent is expanding its reach in China and some overseas markets including the US, with its acquisition of US-based Riot Games, and South Korea. Tencent is among the best performing Chinese internet stocks this year, with its shares surpassing those of search company Baidu (BIDU.NASDAQ, B1C.FRA) and NetEase (NTES.NASDAQ, NEH.FRA), China’s second-largest online games provider.
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