ByteDance scores its first mobile game hit in China in ongoing battle with market leader Tencent

A video game developed by TikTok owner ByteDance was China’s fifth-biggest mobile game by revenue in May, demonstrating the company’s potential as a challenger to Tencent Holdings’ dominance of the lucrative sector.

One Piece: The Voyage, a pirate-themed game developed by CMGE Technology Group and Nuverse, a game studio wholly owned by ByteDance, was launched on April 23 in China and quickly gained popularity, becoming the Beijing-based company’s first title to break into the top 10 list compiled by Chinese market app tracking firm CNG.

While the top revenue-earning games are still Tencent titles Honor of Kings and Peacekeeper Elite, a Chinese version of PUBG Mobile, the success of One Piece: The Voyage shows that ByteDance’s heavy investment in gaming is starting to pay off.

A source at ByteDance, who declined to be named as she is not allowed to speak to the media, said the game earned more than US$50 million in less than two months, providing a huge boost of confidence in the competition against Tencent for a slice of China’s US$43 billion gaming market, the world’s largest.

In China’s hyper-competitive market, just one successful mobile title can make a big difference. miHoYo, a Shanghai-based studio, emerged as one of the top players in the country’s gaming sector thanks to the huge popularity of its Genshin Impact, which was released in September 2020. The title was No 6 in May, according to the latest rankings released by CNG on Sunday.

China’s video gaming industry generated 18.6 billion yuan (US$2.9 billion) of revenue in May, an increase of 5.28 per cent from the same month last year.