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Tencent Finds New Hit in ‘Dungeon and Fighter’ Mobile Game After Dry Spell 

The Tencent Games logo is seen on its game on a mobile phone in this illustration picture taken March 19, 2024. (Reuters) 
The Tencent Games logo is seen on its game on a mobile phone in this illustration picture taken March 19, 2024. (Reuters) 
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Tencent Finds New Hit in ‘Dungeon and Fighter’ Mobile Game After Dry Spell 

The Tencent Games logo is seen on its game on a mobile phone in this illustration picture taken March 19, 2024. (Reuters) 
The Tencent Games logo is seen on its game on a mobile phone in this illustration picture taken March 19, 2024. (Reuters) 

Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings' mobile game "Dungeon and Fighter" was the top-selling app on Apple's App Store in China this week, surpassing the company's existing flagship games after it spent years looking for a new marquee title.

The side-scrolling action game, developed by South Korea's Nexon and published by Tencent, became the top-selling app in China hours after it was launched on May 21 and it has stayed there since, according to app tracking platform Appmagic.

Tencent's "Honor of Kings" and "Peacekeeper Elites" have long been China's most popular games but they have recently shown signs of declining revenue as their popularity ebbed.

Globally, "Dungeon and Fighter" mobile ranked as the world's second top-selling app last week, only behind short video platform TikTok and ahead of Honor of Kings and YouTube, which came in third and fourth, according to Appmagic.

The video game is estimated to have earned more than $40 million in revenue on Apple devices after receiving over 2.4 million downloads, according to Appmagic.

Robin Zhu, senior analyst at Bernstein, said that Appmagic's number aligns with data recorded by another app tracking firm called Sensor Tower.

But he said that the game actually makes more money because the $40 million figure was only Tencent's and Nexon's cut, excluding Apple's share of the revenue.

"Gross billings-wise, the Sensor Tower data suggests you're looking at 1.2 to 1.5 billion yuan ($206.95 million) of receipts since launch," he said. Gross billing refers to the gross amount that users have spent on the game.

He said that "Dungeon and Fighter" mobile's strong performance is on track to meet Nexon's expectation of 3 billion yuan in gross billings during the game's first month of launch.

Officially named "Dungeon and Fighter: Origin", the game is a mobile adaptation of the "Dungeon and Fighter" computer game, one of the world's most profitable computer games which Tencent also publishes.

The game, under development for seven years, was 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.

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Technology

US Defends Law Forcing Sale of TikTok App

This photograph taken in Mulhouse, eastern France on October 19, 2023, shows the logo of the social media video sharing app TikTok reflected in mirrors. (AFP)
This photograph taken in Mulhouse, eastern France on October 19, 2023, shows the logo of the social media video sharing app TikTok reflected in mirrors. (AFP)
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US Defends Law Forcing Sale of TikTok App

This photograph taken in Mulhouse, eastern France on October 19, 2023, shows the logo of the social media video sharing app TikTok reflected in mirrors. (AFP)
This photograph taken in Mulhouse, eastern France on October 19, 2023, shows the logo of the social media video sharing app TikTok reflected in mirrors. (AFP)

The Justice Department late Friday filed its response to TikTok's civil suit aimed at derailing a law that would force the app to be sold or face a US ban.

TikTok's suit in a Washington federal court argues that the law violates First Amendment rights of free speech.

The US response counters that the law addresses national security concerns, not speech, and that TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance is not able to claim First Amendment rights here.

The filing details concerns that ByteDance could, and would, comply with Chinese government demands for data about US users or yield to pressure to censor or promote content on the platform, senior justice department officials said in a briefing.

"The goal of this law is to ensure that young people, old people and everyone in between is able to use the platform in a safe manner," a senior justice department official said.

"And to use it in a way confident that their data is not ultimately going back to the Chinese government and what they're watching is not being directed by or censored by the Chinese government."

The response argues that the law's focus on foreign ownership of TikTok takes it out of the realm of the First Amendment.

US intelligence agencies are concerned that China can "weaponize" mobile apps, justice department officials said.

"It's clear that the Chinese government has for years been pursuing large, structured datasets of Americans through all sorts of manner, including malicious cyber activity; including efforts to buy that data from data brokers and others, and including efforts to build sophisticated AI models that can utilize that data," a senior justice department official said.

TikTok has said the demanded divestiture is "simply not possible" -- and not on the timeline required.

The bill signed by President Joe Biden early this year set a mid-January 2025 deadline for TikTok to find a non-Chinese buyer or face a US ban.

The White House can extend the deadline by 90 days.

"For the first time in history, Congress has enacted a law that subjects a single, named speech platform to a permanent, nationwide ban, and bars every American from participating in a unique online community with more than one billion people worldwide," said the suit by TikTok and ByteDance.

- TikTok shutdown? -

ByteDance has said it has no plans to sell TikTok, leaving the lawsuit, which will likely go to the US Supreme Court, as its only option to avoid a ban.

"There is no question: the Act will force a shutdown of TikTok by January 19, 2025," the lawsuit said, "silencing (those) who use the platform to communicate in ways that cannot be replicated elsewhere."

TikTok first found itself in the crosshairs of former president Donald Trump's administration, which tried unsuccessfully to ban it.

That effort got bogged down in the courts when a federal judge temporarily blocked Trump's attempt, saying the reasons for banning the app were likely overstated and that free speech rights were in jeopardy.

The new effort signed by Biden was designed to overcome the same legal headaches, and some experts believe the US Supreme Court could be open to allowing national security considerations to outweigh free speech protection.

"We view the statute as a game changer from the arguments that were in play back in 2020," a senior justice department official said.

There are serious doubts that any buyer could emerge to purchase TikTok even if ByteDance would agree to the request.

Big tech's usual suspects, such as Facebook parent Meta or YouTube's Google, will likely be barred from snapping up TikTok over antitrust concerns, and others could not afford one of the world's most successful apps used by about 170 million people in the United States alone.