(Bloomberg) -- Honour of Kings, the blockbuster game from Tencent Holdings Ltd., lost the top spot in China's iOS store to a rival uncannily similar to the world's hottest PC title.
The new game from NetEase Inc., which translates roughly as “survival in the wilderness,” took the top spot on Nov. 4, according to researcher App Annie. It features similar game play to PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, including parachuting 100 players onto an island, having them scavenge for armor and weapons before a battle to the death.
Honour of Kings spent almost a year as the top grossing game on Apple Inc.'s China store as players hacked and slashed, usually in teams, through a battle arena to take down the enemy. Now they are flocking to Hunger Games-like shooter games. The success of the new NetEase title comes as PUBG, which is published by Bluehole Inc., faces a tough time getting licensed in China as regulators discourage survival-themed games.
“Chinese developers are the best in the world when it comes to copying domestic or foreign hit titles at record speed,” said Serkan Toto, founder of Tokyo-based consultancy Kantan Games Inc. “It's just amazing how fast, and in some cases how good, Chinese companies can take over content made by others.”
Sharon Hu, a spokeswoman for Beijing-based NetEase, said she couldn't immediately comment. Jane Yip, a spokeswoman for Shenzhen-based Tencent, didn't respond to an email and text query. A spokesman for Bluehole didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
As of Tuesday noon, NetEase's game was so popular that the company had to halt service for system upgrades due to server pressure, it said in a notice. The game has since resumed.
PUBG has sold more than 13 million copies and sells for about $30 a copy. While it's usually played on personal computers, a version for Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox One console will be released next month.
Tencent bought a stake of less than 5 percent in Bluehole, the Korea Economic Daily reported in September.
Tencent plans its own new game that pays tribute to PUBG and is promoting the title by using the words Chiji in the domain that's teasing the rollout on Nov. 8. Chiji means “eat chicken” in Chinese. In PUBG, the end of each battle ends with the words "Winner, winner, chicken dinner."
“Survival-themed games might become the biggest revenue drivers next year, and in China companies have the tendency to copy the same games in swarms,” said Li Muzhi, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Arete Research Services. “At the end, you're competing for user volume and user engagement. Tencent has been actively investing in this space.”
--With assistance from Yuji Nakamura
To contact the reporter on this story: Lulu Yilun Chen in Hong Kong at ychen447@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Robert Fenner at rfenner@bloomberg.net, Reed Stevenson
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