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Tencent to Launch Fortnite in China: Report

Tencent to Launch Fortnite in China: Report

By Rishi Alwani | Updated: 24 April 2018 13:05 IST

Highlights

Tencent owns 48 percent of Epic Games
The company will also invest in Fortnite e-sports in China
A mobile companion app for the game is also on the cards

Popular battle royale shooter Fortnite will be launched in China by Tencent. Users in the country can download the Fortnite client and sign up with their QQ account with an account transfer process in place for those who already have played the international version of the game and want to carry over their progress to the Chinese version of Fortnite. According to Chinese site DoNews (via Touch Arcade), it's unclear if this would include the mobile version as well, though it would make sense if this was the case. Speaking of which, a Fortnite mobile companion app for China will also be made available with live broadcasts of Fortnite matches.

In addition to this, Tencent and Epic will invest about $7.9 million (around Rs. 53 crore) into Fortnite e-sports. This will go towards supporting e-sports teams, commentators, and content creators. An additional $7.9 million (around Rs. 53 crore) will be put towards in-game content and video content creators.

Launching Fortnite in China puts Tencent in an enviable position. The company recently released PUBG Mobile and has a 48 percent stake in Epic, giving it a near monopoly in the battle royale space in China.

Previously it was speculated that Epic Games’ battle royale title has earned $25 million (approximately Rs. 165 crore) in its first month on iOS. According to research firm Sensor Tower, the average daily player spending in the game topped $1 million worldwide on Apple’s store and Fortnite has been second only to Netflix in terms of the amount US iPhone users have spent in it so far this month.

With a Fortnite Android release date on the way, the company suggests Epic Games could make $500 million (roughly Rs. 3,200 crore) by the end of 2018.

“Epic Games has yet to divulge when Fortnite will launch on Google Play, but, should that happen by summer—and if the title is able to maintain its current hysteria-level popularity among gamers for a few more months—our estimates indicate the game could be poised to gross more than $500 million by the end of 2018 across both platforms combined,”wrote Sensor Tower’s Head of Mobile Insights Randy Nelson.

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