Tencent shows no signs of stopping its momentum in the gaming sphere. Tencent Games is the world’s largest game company, raking in 12.7 billion USD last year — almost half of Tencent Group’s revenue, and nearly twice as much as its closest competitor Sony at 6.6 billion USD. Now, they’re setting up to release a Game of Thrones title.
Game of Thrones: Winter is Coming is a war strategy title, and the first time HBO has worked with a Chinese developer to create a game for the series. It’s a significant step, given the popularity of Game of Thrones in China, and the strength of the mobile gaming market. The game was developed by Shanghai-based Yoozoo Interactive, and will be distributed by Tencent.
As for gameplay, not much is known. No new details were released in this week’s announcement. Initial details were given last July at China Joy 2017, Asia’s largest gaming and digital entertainment expo. Yoozoo’s chief creative officer Cui Rong announced that the game would feature interactions with characters from the show, and that these interactions would feature characters’ personal details and period appropriate clothing. No shit.
“We want to combine action and scenes creatively to make our users experience the world,” he said vaguely.
Some internet users have voiced concerns that the Chinese-developed game would censor the show’s signature edgy content. But let’s be real, mobile games have never featured the full frontal nudity, violent sex, and death by rat torture for which HBO’s series is known and loved.
The bigger worry is that the game will fall into Tencent’s pet system of “pay-to-win”, where necessary in-game items and features will be paid for with real world money. At this stage, the game’s actual details are anyone’s guess. But it will feature Game of Thrones characters in their period appropriate clothing.
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