Tencent Holdings (HKG:0700, OTC:TCEHY), the Chinese technology conglomerate, saw its shares undergo its biggest rally of 2024 after it announced an early release date for a hotly anticipated mobile game.
Dungeon and Fighter: Origin, the mobile game developed by Korean group Nexon and published by Tencent, will be released on May 21.
It comes after seven years of development and is a direct adaptation of Dungeon and Fighter, one of the most profitable computer games in the world.
Tencent shares surged close to 5.5% following the announcement, with investors impressed by the earlier-than-anticipated release date.
Analysts expect gaming revenue at Tencent to turn around because of the new game, with experts estimating it will bring in around US$828 million in revenues per year.
Nexon shares also rallied on the news, with the Tokyo-listed group having surging5.7% - its largest jump in around two months.
Dungeon and Fighter has seen more than 850 million global users register on PC and console since it was released in 2005.
More than 60 million users signed up for pre-registration2 back when the mobile app was targeted for an August 2020 release date.
While the game was released to acclaim in South Korea back in 2022, a Chinese launch has been more difficult due to regulatory tightening of the industry between 2018 and 2022.