Tencent’s next big gaming bets draw on viral phenom ‘Palworld’

Figures of Palworld characters at Pocketpair's office in Tokyo, Japan. Indie PC title Palworld was crafted by a tiny studio with limited resources and became the world’s most downloaded new title upon its release in January. — Bloomberg

Tencent Holdings Ltd’s two most accomplished creative studios are making mobile games in the style of this year’s biggest viral hit, Palworld, in hopes of rebooting the company’s core business.

The teams at Timi and Lightspeed are both building games in the style of genre-blender Palworld, replete with pet companions and stylised violence, according to people familiar with the matter. The studios operate autonomously, but both seem to have landed on that new formula to seek out another Honor Of Kings that can power Tencent’s next wave of growth.