If you were hanging out in a Chinese internet cafe back in the late nineties, you probably remember the "beep-beep" sound that defined a generation. It wasn't just a notification. It was the sound of a digital revolution starting in a small office in Shenzhen. Most people today look at the behemoth that is Tencent and see a global investment giant, but honestly, it all traces back to a very specific Tuesday in 1999.
The Tencent QQ initial release date was February 10, 1999.
Back then, it wasn't even called QQ. It launched as OICQ, which stood for "Open ICQ." If that sounds a bit unoriginal, well, it was. Ma Huateng (better known as Pony Ma) and his co-founders basically looked at the Israeli messaging tool ICQ—which was huge in the West—and realized China needed a version that actually worked for local users. ICQ didn't have a Chinese interface, and in 1999, that was a massive barrier.
The OICQ Era: Why the 1999 Launch Mattered
The initial launch wasn't some massive, glitzy event. It was a scrappy software release by a company that was barely a few months old. Tencent itself had only been founded in November 1998. When OICQ hit the web on February 10, it was essentially a "network paging" service.
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Think about that for a second.
Most people didn't have permanent internet connections. They used pagers. Pony Ma’s genius was connecting the internet to those pagers. You could send a message from a PC, and it would show up on your friend's hip-mounted beeper.
By November 1999, only nine months after that initial release date, the service had already cleared 60,000 registered users. That sounds like a tiny number now, but in the context of China’s internet penetration in the late 90s, it was explosive growth. Within a year, they hit a million users.
The Name Change Drama
So, how did OICQ become QQ? It wasn't a branding brainstorm. It was a legal threat. AOL had bought ICQ and wasn't exactly thrilled about a Chinese company using a name that was one letter off. They filed a lawsuit regarding the domain names OICQ.com and OICQ.net.
Tencent lost.
Faced with a shutdown, they rebranded to QQ in December 2000. The "Q" was meant to sound like "cute," which fit the vibe they were going for. They also swapped out their early avatars—which were mostly ripped-off Disney characters like Mickey Mouse—for the iconic penguin mascot we know today.
Beyond the Release Date: The Features That Stuck
The reason QQ didn't just flicker out like other 90s tech is that it adapted faster than its rivals. While MSN Messenger was focusing on office workers, QQ went for the youth.
They introduced QQ Show in 2003. This was basically the first time people realized they could spend real money on virtual clothes for a 2D avatar. It sounds silly, but it saved the company. Before this, Tencent was struggling to figure out how to actually make money from a free chat app.
- Virtual Currency: They created QQ Coins (Q Coin), which became so popular that the People's Bank of China eventually had to step in because people were using them to buy real-world goods.
- The "Age" System: QQ users were obsessed with their "QQ Level." You earned points just by staying logged in. People would leave their computers on all night just to level up their sun and moon icons.
- Qzone: Launched in 2005, it turned a chat app into a full-blown social network long before most people had heard of Facebook.
What Really Happened with the Global Launch?
While February 10, 1999, is the date for the domestic Chinese version, the world didn't get an official "International" version until much later.
In 2009, Tencent finally pushed QQ International for Windows. They wanted to capture the English, French, and Japanese-speaking markets. It had a built-in translation feature that was honestly pretty impressive for the time. Later, in September 2013, the Android version of QQ International arrived, followed by iOS later that year.
But let's be real: by then, the world was moving toward mobile-first apps. Even within Tencent, a little project called WeChat (Weixin) was starting to cannibalize QQ’s user base.
Why 1999 is Still Relevant in 2026
Even today, with WeChat dominating daily life in China, QQ hasn't died. It’s pivoted. It’s now the "cool" app for Gen Z and students because it handles large file transfers better and has more "flashy" features than the more "corporate" WeChat.
If you’re looking at the history of the internet, that February release date is a pivot point. It marked the moment Chinese tech stopped just "copying" and started localizing. Tencent didn't just build a clone; they built an ecosystem that included gaming, music, and payments years before Silicon Valley caught on to the "Super App" trend.
Actionable Insights for Tech History Buffs
- Verify the Brand: If you see "OICQ" in old tech archives, know it’s the exact same lineage as modern QQ.
- Check the Version: If you're looking for the international client, remember it didn't exist until ten years after the initial 1999 launch.
- Avatar Evolution: The penguin wasn't there on day one. If you find a "QQ" history site showing a penguin in early 1999, it's technically anachronistic—the penguin arrived with the 2000 rebrand.
Tencent's journey from a shaky February launch to a trillion-dollar ecosystem is a masterclass in survival through iteration. They didn't have a perfect plan; they just had a release date and a willingness to change the name when the lawyers showed up.