Sohu's online game revenue fell 30% in the third quarter, against a 2025 quarter lifted by Tian Long Ba Bu

Sohu.com, the Chinese internet company whose Changyou unit develops and runs PC and mobile games, said on November 9, 2026, that its online game revenue fell 30% from a year earlier to $114 million in the third quarter. The company put the fall mainly down to a “natural decline from a high comparison base”: in the same quarter of 2025, it had released content updates for Tian Long Ba Bu PC and launched TLBB: Return, a new PC game in the same series.

Game revenue was down 2% from the second quarter, and Sohu as a whole swung to a net loss of $15 million, from net income of $9 million a year earlier.

A business built on one novel

Tian Long Ba Bu is a novel by the Chinese writer Louis Cha, and Changyou has built a string of games on its title and characters, according to Sohu's annual report for 2025. TLBB PC came out in May 2007, TLBB 3D in 2014, Legacy TLBB Mobile in May 2017, TLBB Honor in 2019, New TLBB Mobile in 2023 and TLBB: Return in 2025.

Two of those games carry the company. TLBB PC and Legacy TLBB Mobile produced 60% of Sohu's total revenue and 69% of its online game revenue in 2025, the report says. Sohu lists that dependence as a risk, writing that, despite Changyou's efforts to improve the two games, “their game players have nevertheless lost interest in them over time,” and that their revenue can be expected to keep declining in the long run.

PC accounts held up better than mobile ones. Sohu attributes the drop in PC paying accounts mainly to the natural decline of older games, including TLBB PC, and of TLBB: Return, which launched in the third quarter of 2025, and the mobile declines mainly to the natural decline of older games. The figures count accounts rather than people: a monthly active account is one that logged in at least once that month.

Games are most of Sohu

Online games brought in $113.9 million of Sohu's $133.2 million total revenue in the quarter, or about 85% (our calculation). Total revenue fell 26%, while marketing services revenue rose 10% to $15 million. Changyou's operating profit fell to $58 million from $87 million, cushioned by 23% lower operating expenses, which Sohu attributes mainly to lower salary and benefits costs and less spending on marketing its games.

Chairman and chief executive Charles Zhang said that in its games the company “continued to introduce fresh content to sustain player interest.” For the fourth quarter, Sohu expects online game revenue of $111 million to $121 million, between an 8% fall and a 1% rise on a year earlier, and a net loss of $17 million to $27 million. The guidance assumes 6.73 yuan to the dollar, against about 7.08 in the fourth quarter of 2025; on our reading, a stronger yuan alone lifts the dollar figures.

Sohu has also been buying back its shares: under a program of up to $150 million, it had repurchased 10.1 million American depositary shares for about $134 million as of November 5. It held about $1.2 billion in cash, short-term investments and long-term time deposits at September 30.

Related: our report on Garena's third quarter.