TENCENT Holdings suspended the highly anticipated Dungeon & Fighter (DnF) Mobile within an hour of its Chinese debut on Tuesday (May 21), suggesting strong initial demand for a blockbuster title that investors hope will drive revenue growth in 2024.
Tencent, which had been preparing for the launch for months, took down the game for maintenance after what it called “server fluctuations”, without elaborating. The company compensated players with virtual coins and other in-game items as it worked to rectify login issues. The game resumed for some players after a little over an hour, though not all functions were available.
DnF Mobile, based on developer Nexon’s long-running franchise, is a key title for hit-hungry Tencent, as the world’s biggest games publisher replenishes its ageing games portfolio. New game releases in China were hamstrung by a prolonged halt in game license approvals, and Tencent plans to ramp up releases as the year goes along. Its gaming revenue is estimated to grow by double digits this quarter after a long period of contraction, aided in part by the new role-playing game.
Tencent’s shares were down about 2.6 per cent before the lunch break but off its morning low.
DnF Mobile quickly took the top spot as the most downloaded free game on the iPhone app store in China, and the title has garnered over 60 million player registrations across platforms pre-launch.
Tencent had sought to bring the game to China as far back as 2020, but that coincided with the height of a Beijing regulatory crackdown that imposed new rules on Internet companies. Nexon said at the time it was delaying the title to comply with restrictions aimed at curbing addiction among minors.
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Chinese regulators granted DnF Mobile a commercial license in February, and Tencent executives said they fast-tracked its launch after seeing positive testing results. BLOOMBERG