Tencent’s next level up: fewer big foreign franchise games, more in-house

‘DreamStar’ is Tencent’s answer to rival NetEase’s hit ‘Eggy Party’ and the company’s most high-profile attempt to date at the so-called party game genre which offers simple gameplay, minigames and encourages players to hang out and chat. — Reuters

HONG KONG: In a sea change at China’s Tencent, an easy-to-play game of cute characters tackling obstacle courses has taken precedence over developing a big-budget sophisticated foreign franchise for smartphones.

Since late last year, the world’s largest video games company has, according to sources, redeployed hundreds of people from the team developing Assassin’s Creed Jade for mobile – a multi-year project with France’s Ubisoft.