Tencent Releases New Let’s Hunt Monsters Blockchain Game Inspired by Pokémon Go, CryptoKitties

China is probably the biggest gaming market in the world, however, the gamers of the country have never been able to get a taste of one of the most popular games of all time Pokemon Go. The reason being heavy censorship policies undertaken by the Chines government which included a ban on Google, Twitter, and many other popular social media platforms. However, Chinese gamers can finally experience the thrill and gameplay of Pokemon Go, all thanks to the gaming giants Tencent.

Tencent has decided to launch a blockchain based Augmented Reality game “Let’s Hunt Monster” whose gameplay has been inspired by the popular Pokemon Go and Cryptokitties. The game was launched on Thursday, and the users can roam around looking for virtual monsters just like Pokemon Go. The game also has the option to rear and trade millions of kittens stored on the blockchain. Thus, combining the best of both worlds, the augmented reality-based character hunting has been taken from Pokemon Go, while the rearing and trading of kittens are inspired by Cryptokitties.

Pokemon Go and CryptoKittie Have Been Massive Hit, Can Let’s Hunt Monster Follow The Suit?

Pokemon Go has been the most successful outing for the Pokemon franchise as the game earned the franchise owners a massive $2.5 billion in revenue. On the other hand, CryptoKitte is arguably the most famous blockchain based games to date, where its launch in 2017 caused the jamming of the Ethereum network. The players on the platform traded millions of dollars for virtual kittens.

Both these massively successful games had virtually no footprint in China. While Pokemon Go is a location-based augmented reality game which makes use of Google maps, and as we discussed Google is outright banned in the country. On the other hand, CryptoKittie could not garner attention in the Chinese market because it requires users to deal with ether, the second largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin. The Chinese government also has a passive stance towards crypto use and have banned crypto exchanges in 2017, which makes it quite difficult for anyone to get hold of ether.

There have been many unsuccessful attempts by the local developers to copy the gameplay of both the games in the past, however, the mash up by Tencent in the form of Let’s hunt Monsters seems to have impressed everyone, and the developers have also put a year worth of testing before launching the final product.

As of Friday, the newly launched blockchain game has become the most downloaded free game on the Chinse iOS App Store and left many popular games like PUBG behind. Thus, it is a clear indication that the developer's hard work has paid off.

What Is The Gameplay Of Let’s Hunt Monster Like?

As we have been discussing, the gameplay of newly launched Let’s Hunt Monster has been heavily inspired by the Pokemon Go, where the users can flick a ball on their screen to capture virtual monster characters in the game. Apart from that players has the option to summon virtual kittens which they can use later to trade with other players in return for in-game credits on the Tencent built blockchain platform.

Tencent was able to obtain licensing for its game right before the regulatory body suspended gaming licenses for 9 months last year.