One of the biggest mobile games partners exclusively with China's biggest distributor for an upcoming Chinese-language launch.
Today, King announced that it is partnering with Chinese game giant Tencent to launch Candy Crush Saga in China. The game will be distributed via Tencent's Mobile QQ and WeChat services. The WeChat messaging service has contributed to a recent boom in Chinese mobile spending. Tencent is the biggest player in the Chinese games space, with both mobile and PC-focused businesses. This announcement follows on from launches in Japan and Korea last year, which King handled without a partner. However, entering the Chinese mobile market is generally considered much trickier for Western developers. Tencent has many partnerships with Western studios; notably, it also acquired a majority of League of Legends developer Riot Games in 2011 and a minority stake in Epic Games in 2012. Re/code notes that the announcement caused a bump in the newly public King's stock price; it ended the day up 60 cents a share before retreating in after-hours trading.
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