Mobile title Ace Racer, a racing game published by NetEase Games, has officially surpassed 1 million downloads - a landmark milestone achieved in just five days.

Ace Racer first launched on 16 March 2023, the product of its developers’ goal to create a game with high-quality graphics and a true, console gaming-class experience.

The technologies used in the game were shown off last week at GDC 2023, which ran from March 20 to March 24.

Driving forward

At GDC, Ace Racer’s senior technical art engineer Cao Baoyong and technical manager Liangzhi presented a speech on developer challenges when creating a game that balances visuals with performance.

"We are immensely proud of the Ace Racer team's technical achievement. The team greatly balances high-quality graphics and smooth performance. It is a testament to their dedication and expertise in the industry. We look forward to seeing what the Ace Racer team will accomplish next," said Netease executive VP Xiaojun Hui, also the co-president of NetEase Games.

Notably, Ace Racer runs at 90fps and has received a lot of attention from players, as reflected by its download milestone. How this frame rate was achieved was one part of the delivered GDC speech, as was sharing experiences with vehicle scene optimisation, pipeline rendering and more.

The latest technologies used in achieving this are meant to provide "an even more enjoyable gaming experience for players worldwide".

Also this March, financial tech company Zebedee reached its latest milestone of 1 million players in Bitcoin Miner, a play-to-earn mobile title where players can generate crypto rewards for free.

Sybo’s flagship title Subway Surfers, meanwhile, which took the accolade of the most downloaded game in 2022, has now surpassed 4 billion downloads worldwide. The game first released over a decade ago but found new popularity thanks to TikTok, with an average of 31 million views relating to the game each month.