Pokémon mobile games are by no means in short supply, and with upcoming titles like Pokémon Masters on the way which is due for a release sometime this Summer there will be even more pocket monsters to catch for gamers on the go. This will only multiply tenfold thanks to a new collaboration between Chinese company Tencent and The Pokémon Company which have struck a deal to jointly develop mobile games going forward.
The announcement was made officially on Tencent’s Weibo social media account, stating only that the two companies would be working together on future mobile games. There’s no information on whether or not the games will be limited to the Chinese market but the games will be handled by Tencent’s TiMi Studio group. The announcement did also mention that TiMi will be leading the development on multiple games based on the Pokémon franchise.
For Tencent the deal brings in another global franchise and will potentially be its biggest one yet depending on how many games are made and how popular they are once released. Tencent is already China’s biggest game publisher and has been working on deals to expand its presence elsewhere. It sits behind the wildly popular PUBG MOBILE that can be played on Android and iOS devices and its the publisher behind the upcoming Call of Duty Mobile.
Tencent also owns Riot games, developer of the popular League of Legends, and it’s seen massive success with its two mobile-based multiplayer online battle arena titles that were inspired by LoL, Honour of Kings which was released for the Chinese market, and the Western version of the titles known as Arena of Valor.
The terms of the deal don’t appear to have been made public but Pokémon is a huge franchise and working on games based on it could help Tencent reach even more gamers outside of China. The Pokémon Company also stands to benefit. While Pokémon GO was a big success, not all the Pokémon games on mobile devices have been just as popular. Teaming up with Tencent might lead to another big mobile game that resonates with new and old fans and is able to draw in large numbers of downloads with lasting popularity.
For now there is no word on a date for when these games can be expected to release nor is there any information on what sorts of games the two companies will be working on. Players shouldn’t expect anything similar to Pokémon GO, of course, as Tencent already offers a game in the Chinese market that is very similar to the AR game from Niantic.
Instead, the games are likely to be new titles that are designed and built from the ground up by TiMi Studio Group and The Pokémon Company that offer their own style of gameplay and offer new and fresh content to gamers. Tencent’s official announcement mentions nothing about games already being in development, so titles from this collaboration aren’t likely to be launching anytime soon, especially considering the amount of time it can take to develop a brand new game even for the mobile platform.