China’s gaming freeze in 2018 hits small-time developers
- Let’s Hunt Monsters is currently the most downloaded free game in China’s iOS App Store
- Despite its global success, Pokémon Go is absent from China due to its ban on Google
The world’s biggest gaming market is finally getting a taste of Pokémon Go and CryptoKitties.
Not the original versions but a new title that merges concepts underlying the two games into one, produced by Chinese gaming giant Tencent.
The Shenzhen-based company on Thursday launched its long anticipated augmented reality (AR) game called Let’s Hunt Monsters, where users can cruise around streets and catch hundreds of virtual monsters, while rearing and trading millions of digital kittens stored on a blockchain. That essentially combines what Pokémon Go and CryptoKitties are known for.
Launched about three years ago, Pokémon Go is the most successful mobile title in the Pokémon franchise, with an estimated US$2.5 billion in total revenue, according to data from Sensor Tower. CryptoKitties, meanwhile, is the first viral blockchain game, which upon its release in late 2017 jammed up the ethereum network where it is based with players spending millions of US dollars trading cartoon kittens.
Both titles have had little or no exposure in China. Pokémon Go’s location-based gameplay is dependent on Google Maps, which is banned in the country. As for CryptoKitties, players essentially need to get ether – the world’s second biggest cryptocurrency after bitcoin – to trade those digital cats, and there is no easy way to do that in China after the government banned cryptocurrency exchanges in 2017.
To fill the gap, local games developers have in the past taken inspiration from either Pokémon Go or CryptoKitties to launch Chinese equivalents. But Tencent’s mash-up of both, released after almost a full year of testing, has proven to be the most successful of them all.
As of Friday, Let’s Hunt Monsters ranked as the most downloaded free game on China’s iOS App Store, beating in-demand titles like PUBG Mobile and Honour of Kings.
Much like in Pokémon Go, players of Tencent’s new game can flick a ball on their screens to capture virtual creatures while exploring real-world locations – only the monsters in this case are not Pikachus but mythological beasts like dragons and phoenixes. In a separate feature, players will get to summon digital kittens that they can trade with other players on Tencent’s own blockchain platform – in return for in-game credits rather than real money.
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Tencent could use Let’s Hunt Monsters as a much needed helping hand to boost its gaming revenue while the company is still waiting for government approvals to monetise two smash-hit shooter games, PUBG and Fortnite.
China’s top content regulator suspended the licensing process for new video games for nine months last year, restarting it in December. Before the gaming freeze, Tencent obtained a licence for Let’s Hunt Monsters, meaning in-game purchases are allowed in the title.
Another revenue stream for Let’s Hunt Monsters appears to be marketing campaigns from bricks-and-mortar stores, which will offer players coupons and discounts as they explore at their locations, according to the game’s website.
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