Hong Kong (CNN Business) Financial services and cloud computing are helping Tencent overcome a slump in its gaming business.

The Chinese tech company beat analysts' estimates with a 17% jump in first quarter profit on Wednesday. Revenue for the first three months of the year rose 16% to 85.5 billion yuan ($12.4 billion).

Tencent TCEHY is the world's largest gaming company, but its core business was walloped by an unexpected regulatory crackdown on games in China last year. Beijing stopped approving new titles, leaving Tencent unable to make money from some of its most popular online games.

The ban was lifted in December, and after tweaking content to satisfy Chinese regulators, Tencent got the green light to start monetizing several titles this year.

Kenny Liew, an analyst with research firm Fitch Solutions, attributed the strong first quarter results to "the resumption of game approvals ... and continued growth in its fintech and cloud segments." Fintech includes online financial services like mobile payments, investment funds and credit scoring.

Read More