Tencent pulls hit game DnF Mobile from app stores of Huawei, Oppo and Vivo in sign of dispute

Dungeon & Fighter Mobile will not be available on the app stores of some Chinese Android smartphone vendors from Thursday owing to expired contracts

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Action role-playing game Dungeon & Fighter Mobile has become a runaway hit for Tencent Holdings. Photo: SCMP

Published: 7:00am, 20 Jun 2024

Tencent Holdings has pulled new hit Dungeon & Fighter (DnF) Mobile from the app stores of Huawei Technologies, Oppo and Vivo, as the contracts of these major Chinese Android smartphone vendors expired less than a month after the video game’s launch.

DnF Mobile will no longer be available on some Android platforms from Thursday, according to a notice released on Wednesday by the game’s operating team. The affected app stores – including those of Huawei, Oppo and Vivo – were identified on the same day in a report by Chinese media outlet 21st Century Business Herald, which cited anonymous sources.

The DnF Mobile team recommended that new users on Android systems download the game from its official website amid “adjustments in our cooperation with certain app stores”. As such, these users would still be able to complete a major upgrade scheduled on Thursday within the game’s app.

Tencent did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

Dungeon & Fighter Mobile is a multiplayer, action role-playing game based on the personal computer title Dungeon & Fighter Online, which was first released on the mainland in 2008.

The removal of DnF Mobile from those Android platforms marks the latest flare-up between large game developers and publishers like Tencent, which runs the world’s biggest video gaming business by revenue, and major mainland distribution channels, as gamers increasingly focus on a small number of popular titles.