Games in development combine survival, crafting, and animal friends.
As Tencent’s classic games faded, sales of its games slowed considerably.
In an attempt to revitalize the company’s main line of business, Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s two most successful creative teams are creating mobile games in the vein of Palworld, the largest viral hit of the year.
According to those acquainted with the situation, the teams at Timi and Lightspeed are both creating games in the vein of genre-bending Palworld, complete with stylized violence and pet friends. Although the studios are independent, they appear to have found a new way to search for a new Honor of Kings that will fuel Tencent’s upcoming expansion.
Tencent is placing its bets on Dungeon & Fighter Mobile by Nexon Co., which will launch in China in the upcoming months, to spur short-term growth. However, creating hits in-house is typically more profitable than adapting outside content, and this might help a company that saw a 2% drop in revenue from games during the holiday period.
The largest gaming publisher in the world is in dire need of a mega-hit. Its cloud business is beset by a pricing battle, and its home software lineup is stagnant, with rival NetEase Inc.’s Eggy Party controlling the market for a brand-new party game genre.
The insiders, who wished to remain anonymous since the information is confidential, claimed that Tencent is currently fostering many, rival projects in an effort to speed up the recuperation. Years ago, there was intense internal competition that resulted in the creation of the company’s two highest-earning games and China’s evergreen bestsellers, Honor of Kings by Timi and Peacekeeper Elite by Lightspeed.
When the indie PC game Palworld was released in January, it was the most downloaded new title globally, despite being created by a tiny team with few resources. According to the people, pursuing a game along those lines might be completed really rapidly and result in immediate revenue, particularly with Tencent’s extensive resources and marketing network supporting it.
An inquiry for comments was not answered by Tencent representatives.
The persons and a job posting viewed by Bloomberg News claim that the upcoming games will blend crafting, open-world, survival, and virtual pet care. These are a few of the main characteristics that contributed to Palworld’s unexpected success, which peaked at over 2 million concurrent users. Fans have dubbed the game “Pokémon with guns.”
In an effort to increase the quality of its workforce, the most valuable firm in China is also acquiring assets from BiteDance Ltd.’s dissolved gaming subsidiary.
Developers have left Lightspeed to work on other titles, such as the boring shooter High Energy Heroes.
into its project that resembled Palworld, the people said. The job posting for Timi, which is also renowned for creating Call of Duty Mobile, states that the company is seeking combat designers, 3D artists, and Unreal Engine programmers for their project, which promises a “fantasy adventure world with cute pets.”
Other game developers have also taken note of the Palworld craze. In a recent teaser, NetEase unveiled the pet system for their next survival game, Seven Days World. A lot of fans noticed parallels between that gameplay and what they had seen in Palworld, including an alpaca sidekick with a gun and a bow tie.