CryptoKitties and Pokemon Go Inspires New Mobile Game

By Rishma Banerjee

Chinese gaming giant Tencent has recently launched a game called Let’s Hunt Monsters, which is basically is a combination of the concepts underlying, Pokemon Go, one of the most popular mobile games, and CryptoKitties, a known blockchain based game. As per reports. this new game, has become China’s number one mobile game on the iOS app store, in merely days since its launch.

The augmented reality (AR) game was launched by the Shenzhen-based company on Thursday, April 11. The objective of the game is to make users catch hundreds of virtual monsters while cruising around streets, and trade digital blockchain-based kittens through a separate function. This means that Let’s Hunt Monsters essentially combines both Pokémon Go and CryptoKitties into just one game. China has notably not seen much of both of these games, despite their incredible success in the west.

The country isn’t used to a lot of Pokémon Go as the mobile title, which estimatedly acquired a total revenue of  $2.5 billion in total revenue, depends on Google Maps for its location-based gameplay. Google Maps is banned in the country. CryptoKitties, on the other hand, depends on Ethereum’s ether as that is the currency which is used to buy and sell digital cats.

Back in 2017, China banned cryptocurrency exchanges, and although courts have later on revealed cryptocurrencies should be protected by law as property . The ban made cryptos hard to access in the country, making it hard to use dApps like CryptoKitties. Although many gaming companies have made attempts to create equivalents of both these games in China, none of them have gained success like Tencent’s mash-up. Reports indicate that the game quickly became the most downloaded free game on its iOS app store, beating titles like PUBG Mobile and Honour of Kings.

In the game, players can also flick a ball at monsters on their screens in order to capture them, and are able to summon digital kittens which that can then trade through Tencent’s blockchain platform. They’re traded for in-game credits, however, not for real money.

The Chinese gaming giant has obtained a license to monetize Let’s Hunt Monsters through in-game purchases.  Another revenue stream for it is based on marketing campaigns from retail stores offering discounts to players who explore their areas.