Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s revenue beat expectations after Covid-19 lockdowns propelled gaming sales to their fastest growth since 2017, helping offset shrinking ad budgets and a record Chinese economic contraction.

The WeChat operator’s revenue rose 26% to 108.1 billion yuan ($15.2 billion) after online gaming sales leapt 31% during the coronavirus-stricken March quarter.

The numbers underscore how Tencent is among the more resilient of China’s internet giants thanks to its bread-and-butter gaming division, which rode a wave of spending from homebound players in the world’s largest gaming arena. But the company warned that those gains could peter out as China returns to normality and goes back to work, while global macro uncertainty may continue to depress spending by corporations on online advertising.

“We expect in-game consumption activities to largely normalize as people return to work, and we see some headwinds for the online advertising industry,” the company said in its filing.

Tencent has gained more than $42 billion in market value since Covid-19 first broke out, defying a global market rout to outperform peers like Baidu Inc. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

Tencent’s total smartphone gaming revenue surged 64% during the first quarter, helped by the consolidation of Clash of Clans maker Supercell. Revenue at Tencent’s burgeoning fintech division slid from the previous quarter after merchants shut their doors but began recovering in April as activities in China resumed.

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