Tencent’s patriotic city-building mobile title Homeland Dream has topped the free game chart on Apple’s China App Store on the eve of the country’s anniversary, beating the company’s other popular titles such as Honour of Kings.
Tencent’s game Homeland Dream (“家国梦”)
Why it matters: As the 70th birthday of the People’s Republic of China draws near, Tencent and other internet companies are looking for ways to appease the country’s regulators, which are increasingly stringent about all types of online content.
- Bytedance has organized a campaign where it gives cash prizes to influencers who post videos of themselves with their hands in the shape of a heart, signaling love for China.
“Homeland Dream” (“家国梦”)
Details: Homeland Dream was developed in partnership with state media outlet People’s Daily and was launched on September 24, according to Bloomberg.
- In the game, players can build a virtual city from scratch and collect images related to the country’s history, such as the “Reform and Opening-up” policy and the “Belt and Road” initiative, as well as buzzwords such as “One Country, Two Systems.”
- Homeland Dream received an average rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars from nearly 5,000 reviews. However, TechNode observed on Monday afternoon that many of the reviews awarding the title five stars are bot-generated, containing comments irrelevant to the content of the game.
- Many players left reviews criticizing the game of being highly repetitive and of too poor quality to pay homage to the country for its 70th anniversary.
– This article originally appeared on TechNode.
