Tencent Pulls Popular PUBG Mobile Game in China
Updated: Jul 29, 2019
Tencent Holdings Ltd on Wednesday shut down its test variant of the worldwide blockbuster "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" in China and moved clients to a comparative, enthusiastic computer game which, different to PUBG, has an administrative approval to create income.
Approval-Based Launch
The Chinese video gaming pioneer has stretched for over a year to generate revenue on PUBG by means of subscriptions, but bled by so called regulators, Sonn South Korean-made game took a socialist makeover to meet stringent government rules.
In a post on the game's official account on China's Twitter-like Weibo, Tencent said it would end testing for PUBG. It additionally said it had launched terrorism based theme "Game for Peace", for which it has received monetization approval.
The Game - a hit in China
"With PUBG Mobile having around 70 million active users in China now, we expect Game for Peace could possibly create 8 billion yuan to 10 billion yuan ($1.18 billion to $1.48 billion) in yearly income", said experts at China Renaissance.
In a website statement, Tencent portrayed Game for Peace as a strategic shooting game created in-house which "pays tribute to the blue sky warriors that protect our nation's airspace", in reference to the Chinese aviation based armed forces.
IHS Markit diversions expert Cui Chenyu said users experiences and reviews demonstrated that Game for Peace was fundamentally the same as PUBG, a PC game from South Korea's Krafton, recently known as Bluehole. The PUBG in China was licensed by Tencent and created a mobile version. "It's the very same," she said. "The gameplay, the foundation, the visual communication, and the characters, they're nearly the equivalent."
The Firm Replacement
Some Weibo clients said on beginning of Game for Peace, they ended up at a spot in the game that firmly looked like the spot they left off in PUBG, complete with PUBG gaming history. However, a representative for Krafton - the South Korean Company that owns the game said the firm was investigating PUBG status in China and declined to remark further.
Worldwide game distributor Steam named PUBG one of its most grossing titles of 2018. On Wednesday, "PUBG is gone" was one of the most seen themes on Weibo, with more than 300 million ticks and near 90,000 posts.
User Testimonials
"I was terrified to death," said one Weibo client of his sentiments when he understood that PUBG had been closed down in China, clarifying he had spent numerous evenings to achieve a specific dimension.
"In any case, I didn't expect that once I refreshed it to Game of Peace it returned me back to a similar dimension. The game changed its name and turned out to be socialist to receive approval."
Others remarked on the non appearance of violence, "I'm going to die with laughter," said another Weibo client. "When you shoot individuals, they don't bleed, and the dead get up and wave farewell!"