The Chinese tech giant Tencent has made a daring maneuver to earn 14 million US dollars in just 72 hours. This happens with a replacement game for PUBG Mobile and a maneuver that is indeed quite brazen.
This is the background: Tencent has had the rights to PUBG for the Chinese market for some time and has also developed a mobile version there. In China, people are crazy about mobile and PUBG.
However, Tencent could not make money from this insane hit, because the political climate in China had changed:
Suddenly, the government there saw the enthusiasm for mobile gaming critically, and PUBG could not generate revenue. The regulatory authorities refused to grant a license for new games.
For months, there was a freeze, with no new games being approved and the stock price of Tencent fell, after the company had grown over the years to become one of the largest firms worldwide.
Now, however, new rules are active: China is allowing new games again, but they must conform to their socialist values. There should be no corpses and no blood anymore; instead, a more beautiful picture of China should be drawn.
PUBG is, however, a game in which people shoot each other and only one survives. Not exactly socialism in its pure form.
How could Tencent get out of this situation?
This is how Tencent solved the crisis: Tencent closed the game “PUBG Mobile” and released “The Game for Peace,” which is essentially PUBG. The data from PUBG Mobile are automatically transferred to “Game for Peace.”
- This “new” game pays respect to the “People’s Liberation Army Air Force,” the Chinese air forces.
- Additionally, the game is playable only from the age of 16, and players between 16 and 18 may only play two hours a day.
- The violence in the game has also been toned down.
This is how successful it is: As reported by the South China Morning Post, the action was a complete success. The game generated a huge buzz on social media:
- Some fans were happy to finally have a “permitted” version of the game
- Others mocked the fact that the socialist version of PUBG Mobile comes without blood
In any case, “Games of Peace” was a financial success for Tencent. According to early reports from Sensor Tower, the title earned 14 million US dollars in 72 hours. Additionally, the iOS version was the most downloaded free game in the Chinese Apple Store last Friday and has earned the most money.
The stock of Tencent rose on the Hong Kong stock exchange – after this daring, “socialist” action.
