Return to Empire has broken into the top 10 highest-grossing games on iOS in the first 24 hours since its launch in China. It is a mobile version of Age of Empires available exclusively in the country.
Niko Partners senior analyst Daniel Ahmad shared the data on Twitter, saying that Return to Empire debuted in first place on the iOS game download chart.
Tencent’s TiMi Studios released Age of Empires Mobile in China today, based on the Xbox IP. It debuted at #1 on the iOS game download chart and is already a top 10 grossing game
The marketing focuses on the real time strategy elements and greater degree of freedom vs other games pic.twitter.com/LYNvk8fgkC
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) March 29, 2022
The mobile strategy game is developed by Tencent-owned TiMi Studios. The team is best known for creating Call of Duty: Mobile and Pokémon Unite, as well as Tencent’s biggest hit Honor of Kings (the highest-grossing mobile title ever with a lifetime revenue of over $10 billion).
Return to Empire, based on Microsoft’s strategy series Age of Empires, is a part of the strategic partnership between TiMi Studios and Xbox Game Studios signed last year. This deal might help Microsoft boost its IPs in China and help Tencent’s subsidiary to strengthen its positions as global game developer.