A Chinese imitation of a hit Japanese frog game has emerged. Then vanished after complaints

Players say they bought the game believing it was a genuine Chinese version of popular Tabi Kaeru, from Japan

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Players complained that Travel Frog, developed by Song Yang, was not what they were expecting. It was later removed from Apple’s app store. Photo: News.sina.com.cn

Published: 11:01am, 26 Jan 2018Updated: 10:58pm, 26 Jan 2018

Apple has removed a game from its app store in China after users complained they paid 30 yuan (US$4.70) for what they thought was a Chinese-language “travel frog” game that turned out to be a copycat version, a Shanghai newspaper reports.

The popular Tabi Kaeru, or “travel frog”, is dominating the free download category on Apple’s app store in China, while a topic for the game on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, has been viewed 400 million times. Developed by Hit-Point, the game is available only in Japanese.

Tabi Kaeru, a Japanese game about a travelling frog, is dominating the free download category on Apple’s app store in China. Photo: Cnfol.hk

But on Tuesday, a game purporting to be its Chinese version – called Travel Frog and developed by Song Yang – became available for download on Apple’s paid apps store, Shanghai Morning Post reported on Thursday.

It was offered in 14 languages, including traditional and simplified Chinese.

Distinguished from the original only by a full stop at the end of the name, it shot to the top of the chart for paid games.

By Wednesday, it had received nearly 8,000 reviews from users, many of them negative.

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