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ByteDance's Combat of Hero secures the most iOS downloads in Japan for four consecutive days

Was originally released in December 2019

ByteDance's Combat of Hero secures the most iOS downloads in Japan for four consecutive days

Chinese tech company ByteDance's Combat of Hero has been the most downloaded free iOS title in Japan for four days.

As reported by the South China Morning Post, the mobile game scored the most downloads from March 7th to March 10th. The game was released in Japan in December 2019.

In South Korea, the game has also proven popular as the third most downloaded free App Store title. Furthermore, it has ranked in the top 10 in mainland China.

PeakX Games developed Combat of Hero. In the martial arts-inspired title, players must defeat opponents through various combat skills and weapons.

Partnerships

Niko Partners vice president Zeng Xiaofeng claimed advertisement through Bytedance's own social platform, TikTok, and various partnerships are part of why the publisher's title has seen success in Japan.

"Combat of Hero has reached the top rankings because ByteDance invested heavily in ads and promotion through TikTok and via partnerships, such as with Facebook," said Xiaofeng.

"There are many Chinese game developers succeeding in Japan.

"China imports more games from Japan than from any other country. The market for consoles and partnerships between Chinese publishers and Japanese developers has also opened up."

Not a serious attempt

As opposed to it being a serious attempt, Kantan CEO Serkan Toto believes it is nothing more than an experiment for ByteDance. In fact, he claimed the casual title "will quickly fizzle out."

"This is not a serious attempt to crack the Japanese gaming market in any way, but looks more like an experiment for ByteDance to dip its toe there," said Toto.

In January 2020, it was reported that 2020 was the year the Chinese firm wanted to make a push into mobile games. That same month, it acquired Beijing-based AI developer LevelupAI.


Staff Writer

Kayleigh is the Staff Writer for PocketGamer.biz. Besides PGbiz and PCGI she has written as a list writer for Game Rant, rambling about any and all things games related. You can also find her on Twitter talking utter nonsense.