People dislike losing far more than they like winning. Game makers know that, and investors do too. Tencent, the world’s largest video gaming company, provides ample opportunity to test the point. After years of spectacular growth, its shares have plummeted 43 per cent from their January peak. Wednesday’s better than expected third-quarter results could be a turning point.

For now, rattled investors still have a lot to worry about. The Shenzhen-based company confounded feeble forecasts with a 30 per cent net profit increase to Rmb23bn ($3.3bn). But that owed a lot to a one-time Rmb9bn investment gain. News from the gaming division, the engine of the group, did little to soothe nerves. Online games accounted for around 40 per cent of the company’s revenues last year, but are now less than a third. A state crackdown has stopped it making money from new titles like PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, an online multiplayer game. The regulatory fog shows no sign of lifting.

More uncertain is the impact of Tencent’s move into the cloud services business. Those revenues more than doubled year-on-year but from a small base. To realise its ambitions in what it calls the “industrial internet” will require heavy investment. Returns are uncertain though it should find new — and higher margin — opportunities over time.