On August 19th local time, Gamescom 2025 opened in Cologne, Germany. During the gaming exhibition, "Delta Force," which had just launched on console platforms (PS5, XBOX), became one of the most attention-grabbing games at the event.

In the gaming console platform, shooting games are among the most popular and largest market share game categories. "Delta Force" is the first domestically developed original service-type game in this field.

"Delta Force" is developed by Tencent Games and first entered public beta on mobile and PC platforms in September 2024. By July 2025, the product's average DAU (Daily Active Users) has exceeded 20 million, ranking among the industry's top five.

Less than a year after its public beta launch, "Delta Force" landed on the console market, solidifying the game's positioning across all platforms and endpoints, and completing an important piece of the puzzle for its global market layout.

Globally, the console gaming market is valued at over $42 billion, a market that Chinese manufacturers have historically been least involved in. Meanwhile, Game as a Service (GaaS) has become a new growth driver for the console market, with platform providers Sony and Microsoft actively developing service-type games to adapt to industry trends and user demands.

For Tencent Games, which continues to expand new growth windows, "Delta Force's" landing on console platforms not only highlights its determination to invest more heavily in the console market but also reflects the industry leader's new growth logic.

**Behind 20 Million+ Daily Active Users: Comprehensive Layout of "Four-Complete" IP**

"Delta Force" is developed by J3 Studio under Tencent Games' TiMi Studio Group, a team that has been deeply involved in the FPS (First-Person Shooter) category for 15 years, previously producing hit games such as "Counter Fire," "CrossFire Mobile," and "Call of Duty Mobile."

After the great success of "Call of Duty Mobile," J3 Studio began planning a service-type shooting game that could be competitive on PC while achieving global cross-platform operation.

Regarding the initial planning and positioning of "Delta Force," J3 Studio General Manager Yao Yuan stated in media interviews that by 2020, three leading FPS mobile games had already dominated globally, making it obviously difficult for a new FPS mobile game to achieve great success again. Therefore, J3 Studio chose to first meet PC players' requirements and positioned the game for cross-platform operation, starting from high-quality PC content and expanding to more terminal ecosystems.

"We felt we shouldn't port mobile games to PC platform, but should do cross-platform development, which is one of the reasons we believe 'Delta Force' will succeed," Yao Yuan said. "In the past, Western developers mostly used paid purchase models, which have been running for over 20 years. FIFA, COD, Battlefield – none of these follow service-type game thinking logic, and it's difficult to transition to free-to-play game logic. But COD created a free mobile version and achieved great success, showing that creating service-type games is worth trying."

Ultimately, "Delta Force," Tencent's fully self-controlled IP, established positioning for global distribution, full-terminal launch, and full-platform integration, becoming Tencent Games' first "four-complete" IP.

Since launching in September 2024, the product has achieved high daily user engagement time and retention rates, demonstrating long-term game potential and becoming a regular feature in subsequent financial reports.

After launch, "Delta Force" introduced 8 maps, 6 operators, 47 freely customizable weapons, and 10 vehicles in its S1 season, building on its fast-paced search-and-extraction gameplay. S2 and S3 seasons added trench warfare maps, blade updates, Balkesh and Dam Zero expansions, as well as cooperative operations and capture-the-flag modes, showcasing AAA game quality while expanding the space for service-type games in the shooting category.

The game's accurate positioning and high quality have received positive market response, becoming an important source of revenue growth for Tencent Games. Tencent's Q1 2025 financial report disclosed that "Delta Force's" domestic user numbers reached new highs since launch, with peak daily active accounts breaking 12 million in April 2025. By average daily active accounts, "Delta Force" ranked sixth among the industry's most popular mobile games and became the game with the highest average daily active accounts among new games released in the industry in the past three years.

Tencent's Q2 2025 financial report showed the product is in a high-growth phase, with single-quarter DAU growth exceeding 66% to over 20 million, ranking among the industry's top five for daily active accounts and top three for revenue. Steam's July online player count showed significant improvement compared to April.

Driven by "Delta Force" and multiple evergreen games' growth, Tencent's gaming revenue in the domestic market reached 40.4 billion yuan, up 17% year-over-year.

It was only after initial success on PC and mobile platforms that "Delta Force" began entering the "heartland" of overseas gaming markets – the console gaming market.

In console shooting game categories, from early titles like "Quake" and "DOOM" to "Call of Duty" and "Battlefield," overseas IPs have long maintained absolute dominance. Upon "Delta Force's" console debut, well-known PS game review website PlayStation Lifestyle published an article titled "Decades Later, PS1, PS2 Shooting Game Series Returns to PS5 Platform Today," stating that "Delta Force," this iconic series, returns as a free modern team tactical shooting game.

Many console players have commented that "Delta Force" not only matches contemporary competitors in audio-visual performance, but its diverse gameplay and free model have significantly lowered the game's barriers to entry. The game's controller adaptations have also received player praise.

As a native service-type game, this title's potential to change the industry landscape may just be emerging.

**Why the Console Market Matters**

Compared to mobile and PC games, console games represented by PS and XBOX series remain a niche market domestically, but globally, console games not only occupy nearly 30% of market share, but console owners include many core users. For major game developers, the console market offers more certain returns compared to the PC market.

Market research firm Newzoo's global gaming market report shows that 2024 global gaming market revenue was $187.7 billion, with console games accounting for 28%. Meanwhile, in the two major console gaming markets of the United States and Europe, "guns (shooting), balls (sports), cars (racing)" are the main game categories. According to Kings Research, shooting games accounted for 16% of console game revenue in 2024.

Shooting games attract not only hardcore players but also casual players and even non-gaming demographics. Simultaneously, in the traditional console gaming market, business model changes continue occurring from traditional purchase-based games to DLC proliferation and microtransaction games, then to service-type games, with about 20% of the market now occupied by non-purchase-based games.

In terms of gameplay and mechanics, there are currently no quality extraction-based shooting games on console platforms. "Delta Force," as the first domestically developed product with search-and-extraction gameplay on console platforms, will quickly occupy this market segment.

Additionally, Tencent's development team discovered during early testing that the title attracted large numbers of overseas console users, comparable to PC users, making console version development an important part of advancing their globalization strategy.

As a "newcomer" in the console field, "Delta Force" will continue optimizing and iterating to match top-tier shooting games, providing extremely valuable practical learning opportunities for the development team.

Worth mentioning is "Delta Force's" cross-platform connectivity mechanism, a field rarely explored by major overseas gaming companies. In Tencent's development team's view, the title has already achieved data synchronization between PC and mobile platforms, with console platforms further enabling player matchmaking connectivity (players can choose cross-platform battles between PC and console), meaning cross-platform players only need to invest one payment and gameplay learning cost.

Cross-platform matching can also gather more players during early game operations, rapidly growing the user base and enabling products to enter more positive growth cycles.

Based on these considerations, Tencent decided as early as 2023 to develop "Delta Force's" console version. As a console "newcomer," Tencent also lacks the various burdens of traditional purchase-based game developers. Whether regarding the IP itself or the game's underlying development mechanisms, native service-type game "Delta Force" has better opportunities to succeed in business model innovation.

In capturing user experience, developers can identify players' real needs and adjust promptly; in long-term operations, developers can also launch sufficient new content, giving it evergreen potential.

**New Growth Logic: New "Going Global" Journey**

Due to various reasons, gaming consoles remain in early development stages domestically, leading to few domestic game developers laying out console market strategies with sparse results. Industry data shows that domestic game developers with console game layouts account for less than 5% of the total.

However, the console gaming market with few interested developers represents a completely new incremental market for domestic developers who have already become highly competitive in mobile and PC gaming. Especially as traditional dividends in China's gaming market gradually fade, and domestic developers expand through "going global," the console gaming market serves as both a test and proof of capability, as well as an essential piece of the puzzle.

Purchase-based games have long occupied about 80% of console market share, but in recent years, except for a few extremely high-selling blockbusters, game developers have found that prices around $60 can no longer support providing players with a full year of continuous service, leading them to increasingly turn to microtransactions and DLC methods for profit.

For console players, after paying dozens of dollars, they still face cut single-player story missions, paid "loot boxes" and "battle passes," and even complete games divided into multiple DLCs. In this situation, zero-barrier, long-cycle native service-type games with continuous new experiences may be more commercially sustainable.

Unlike traditional one-time purchase games, GaaS (Game as a Service) continuously releases updated content during post-launch operations, driving players to continue playing and consuming, making games a service that can continuously meet player needs.

However, transitioning from purchase-based to service-type games isn't merely a change in payment models: service-type games need frameworks "suitable for continuously adding new content"; games' sense of achievement and satisfaction must continuously motivate players long-term; this process must also continuously bring "new experiences."

This is precisely the strength of Tencent Games, which excels at operating "evergreen games."

Furthermore, for Chinese game developers, the globally massive installed base of gaming consoles represents an important entry point for original self-owned IPs to penetrate consumer consciousness. Consoles are often the center of home entertainment, and games landing on gaming consoles means entering the "living rooms" of global gaming players, providing a successful foundation for later multi-platform linkage and derivative IP development.

"Delta Force," not yet a full year old, landing on the console market will not only open new market territories but also begin an exciting journey for Chinese original self-owned IP games "going global."