Tencent finds new hit in 'Dungeon and Fighter' mobile game after dry spell

NEXON

29/05/2024 06:41

By Josh Ye
       HONG KONG, May 29 (Reuters) - Chinese internet giant
Tencent Holdings'  0700.HK  mobile game "Dungeon and Fighter"
was the top-selling app on Apple's App Store in China this week,
surpassing the company's existing flagship games after it spent
years looking for a new marquee title. 
    The side-scrolling action game, developed by South Korea's
Nexon  3659.T  and published by Tencent, became the top-selling
app in China hours after it was launched on May 21 and it has
stayed there since, according to app tracking platform Appmagic.
    Tencent's "Honor of Kings" and "Peacekeeper Elites" have
long been China's most popular games but they have recently
shown signs of declining revenue as their popularity ebbed. 
    Globally, "Dungeon and Fighter" mobile ranked as the world's
second top-selling app last week, only behind short video
platform TikTok and ahead of Honor of Kings and YouTube, which
came in third and fourth, according to Appmagic.  
    The video game is estimated to have earned more than $40
million in revenue on Apple devices after receiving over 2.4
million downloads, according to Appmagic. 
    Robin Zhu, senior analyst at Bernstein, said that Appmagic's
number aligns with data recorded by another app tracking firm
called Sensor Tower. 
    But he said that the game actually makes more money because
the $40 million figure was only Tencent's and Nexon's cut,
excluding Apple's share of the revenue. 
    "Gross billings-wise, the Sensor Tower data suggests you're
looking at 1.2 to 1.5 billion yuan ($206.95 million) of receipts
since launch," he said. Gross billing refers to the gross amount
that users have spent on the game. 
    He said that "Dungeon and Fighter" mobile's strong
performance is on track to meet Nexon's expectation of 3 billion
yuan in gross billings during the game's first month of launch. 
    Officially named "Dungeon and Fighter: Origin", the game is
a mobile adaptation of the "Dungeon and Fighter" computer game,
one of the world's most profitable computer games which Tencent
also publishes.
    The game, under development for seven years, was released in
South Korea in 2022 and became an instant hit. But its China
release was delayed after the government cracked down on the
gaming industry between 2018 and 2022.
 
   ($1 = 7.2483 Chinese yuan)

 (Reporting by Josh Ye; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
 ((Josh.Ye@thomsonreuters.com;))