Tencent Holdings Ltd. is ramping up investment in shooter games amid a shift in Chinese gamers’ preferences from smartphones to PCs — and the company has tapped one of its breakout developers to spearhead the move.

For more than a decade, Tencent veteran Leo Yao worked behind the scenes producing one shooting game after another. His breakthrough came in 2024 with a title that now attracts 30 million daily players, becoming one of Tencent’s biggest hits in recent years.

Now, the 43-year-old developer has been entrusted by Tencent’s top leadership to help steer the company’s next phase of growth, as it seeks to reclaim ground in a genre long dominated by Western studios. Shooting games account for roughly 9% of the $189 billion global gaming market, according to research firm Newzoo.