[News Inside] The Person Who Overcame Copycat Mockery to Create China's National Platform

Ma Huateng, CEO of Tencent

▲Ma Huateng, CEO of Tencent

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jaehee] The monthly active users (those who use the app at least once a month) number 1.2 billion. It is an essential application for Chinese people. This is the so-called essential Chinese app, "WeChat."

Tencent, the creator of WeChat, also started small. Tencent's founder, Ma Huateng, was a famous computer enthusiast from a young age. When Tencent was established in 1998, it was merely a small company that distributed popular games from countries like South Korea about a decade ago.

However, Ma Huateng did not stop at just game distribution; since 2008, he has reinvested most of the profits to grow the company. To date, Ma Huateng has invested in over 800 venture companies worldwide, with more than 160 companies growing into unicorns valued at over $1 billion (approximately 1.1175 trillion KRW).

Ma Huateng's business success in the information and communication technology (IT) sector can also be attributed to his childhood experiences. Born in 1971 in Shantou City, Guangdong Province, China, Ma Huateng spent his childhood on Hainan Island. Growing up relatively well-off under a civil servant father, he moved to Shenzhen with his parents in 1984 and enrolled in the Computer Engineering Department at Shenzhen University. Shenzhen symbolizes China's economic reform and opening up, and from a young age, Ma Huateng dreamed of creating his own company while being exposed to new technologies.

After graduation, Ma Huateng briefly worked at a company manufacturing pagers before founding Tencent with his university classmate Zhang Zhidong. Ma Huateng took the role of CEO, while Zhang Zhidong became the CTO.

Tencent is a prime example of the saying "imitation is the mother of creation." Initially, Tencent's business model connected pagers with the internet, but with the advent of mobile phones, they had to find a new business model, which led to the start of their "messenger" service. At that time, there was no native Chinese messenger, and the market was dominated by messengers developed by startups from the U.S. and Israel.

Tencent identified the inconveniences of these messengers and adapted them to local needs. In 2010, after establishing a subsidiary and analyzing the mobile messenger market, they notably referenced South Korea's KakaoTalk. Based on this, they launched "WeChat" in January 2011.

WeChat rapidly expanded its market by offering various features for Chinese users, including WeChat Pay. Providing services ranging from mobile payments, money transfers, food delivery, shopping, to taxi hailing, WeChat became an indispensable platform for Chinese people. As a result, it secured 50 million users within one year of launch and 200 million the following year, quickly capturing the market.

Tencent's "copycat" approach was not limited to messengers. Leveraging this, they entered the gaming market with a two-track strategy of overseas game distribution and in-house game development. Starting in 2003 with the import of South Korea's "Sephiroth," they distributed various Korean online games in the Chinese market, achieving great success.

Representative games include Smilegate's "Cross Fire," Nexon's "Dungeon & Fighter," and NCSoft's "Blade & Soul." These three games succeeded in the Chinese market, supported by Tencent's distribution power and marketing.

During distribution, Tencent localized popular games by imitating them, releasing titles such as QQ Tang, inspired by Korea's Crazy Arcade, and QQ Speed, modeled after Kart Rider, gradually accumulating know-how and successfully launching quality games.

Some critics dismiss Tencent's success as mere imitation, but Ma Huateng's words reveal his philosophy.

Ma Huateng said, "When Tencent was a small company, we had to stand on the shoulders of giants to grow. But mere imitation cannot lead to success. You must bring great ideas, localize them for China, add better features, and drive innovation to succeed."

This clearly shows that his success was not achieved by imitation alone.