Tower of Fantasy, a sandbox role-playing game developed by the Chinese gaming developer Perfect World, announced on January 24 that it will be released globally in mid-2022.
The game is expected to cause a sensation in the overseas market since it resembles some of the global hit title Genshin Impact's characteristics like open-world, anime art style, and gacha mechanic.
Perfect World has stepped up its bets on the international market as China tightens regulations on the gaming industry. Tower of Fantasy, is likely to become the Beijing-headquartered company's new growth point.
In 2021, the net profit of Perfect World dropped 74.8%-77.4%, partially due to severe restrictions on game licenses in China. The company plans to lay off hundreds of employees, including the R&D department.
As a veteran game developer, Perfect World is well-known for creating MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) and MMO+ games. Inspired by Genshin Impact's global success, the eighteen-year-old gaming firm added elements such as open-world, anime art style, and gacha mechanic to this new game.
However, the much-anticipated game is facing multiple disputes: some players consider it a clone of the Genshin Impact since it shares many characteristics with the latter; some game analysts believe it's just a straight MMORPG game, and the "open-world" is a gimmick. Besides, the storyline of the Tower of Fantasy's commercial was found to be very similar to a work of Hurray!, a small-sized Japanese animation company, causing public outrage.
Anyway, these trendy settings, along with the controversy-fueled popularity, have brought Tower of Fantasy a considerable fanbase. According to a recent Sensor Tower report, the game, which was launched in the domestic market in mid-December 2021, topped China's iOS mobile game download rankings for six consecutive days, and drove Perfect World's monthly revenue growth of 106.4%.
For reference, Sensor Tower data showed that Genshin Impact, launched by Shanghai-based Mihoyo, made $2 billion in revenue within a year of its launch.
Perfect World believes that the high threshold of open-world RPG games would turn Tower of Fantasy into a “cash cow” after its global rollout.