A pedestrian walks past Tencent Holdings headquarters in Shenzhen, China. File photo
Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings said on Monday it would release its much-anticipated "Dungeon and Fighter" mobile game on May 21 after seven years of development.
Officially named "Dungeon and Fighter: Origin", the action game, developed by Korean firm Nexon is a mobile adaptation of the "Dungeon and Fighter" computer game, one of the world's most profitable computer games.
Tencent's shares rose about 4.5% on Monday morning. E-commerce platforms Naspers and Prosus shares rose due to their stakes in Tencent. By 4.43pm Naspers shares were up 5.61% at R3440, while Prosus shares were also up 4.58% at R609.40 on the JSE.
The game was already released in South Korea in 2022 and became an instant hit. But its China release was delayed after the government cracked down on the gaming industry between 2018 and 2022.
In a February note, investment bank Jefferies expected the game to "secure a top five spot in revenue rankings" in China and to potentially generate between $600 million (R11.5 billion) to $1.1bn in annualised revenues there over time. But the bank expects a "cautious approach to engagement and monetisation" during its initial launch.
Last month, Tencent conducted a closed test with 300 000 players and had delivered strong results. In a note this month, HSBC wrote: "Testing for DnFm yielded solid performance in metrics like [daily active users], retention rate and user's paying propensity."
REUTERS AND BR REPORTER