Tencent Holdings secured a green-light for another clutch of major game titles, reinforcing hopes Beijing is easing a crackdown on the world’s largest mobile gaming arena, reports Bloomberg. It was only the second time the Chinese tech giant gained licenses for blockbuster titles since Beijing resumed issuing them in April.
“Pokémon Unite,” developed in tandem with Nintendo, was among the 40-plus foreign online titles approved in December by the National Press and Publication Administration. It also cleared other Tencent entries, including popular esports title Valorant. The latest approvals follow “Metal Slug: Awakening” last month.
Tencent harbored high expectations for Unite, which pits two teams of five players against each other in a multiplayer online battle arena format similar to the Chinese company’s own League of Legends. Based on the internationally recognizable monster-hunting franchise, it was among a series of titles Tencent hoped would spearhead a global expansion.