BEIJING, March 14 — Best known for its short-form video-sharing network, TikTok company ByteDance is busy publishing mobile games, with Combat of Hero and now JJ Basket proving instant hits.

Following a sequence of acquisitions and expansions, TikTok group ByteDance is seeing returns on its investment into mobile gaming.

March has seen a dramatic upturn in fortunes for stick figure sword action game Combat of Hero in Japan since the start of the month, as observed by the South China Morning Post.

Published in Japan through ByteDance subsidiary Ohayoo, Combat of Hero has been the 1st or 2nd most downloaded iOS game in the country since March 3, per store tracker App Annie.

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Also available on Android, it’s been steadily moving up Google Play’s regional top 10 since March 5.

Ohayoo had previously assisted with the development of February mobile app Pathogen Battle, a casually educational game themed around Coronavirus and other viral infections, in conjunction with a Chinese government office and government-owned newspaper.

As with Combat of Hero, 3-on-3 basketball sim JJ Basket for iOS released on March 12 in China through ByteDance-owned Zhaoxi Guangnian, with SCMP offshoot Abacus noticing that it ended its first day on the official App Store games chart at 2nd (App Annie).

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ByteDance is in the advantageous position of being able to advertise through its own portfolio of apps, including but not limited to TikTok and Chinese equivalent Douyin, as well as through promotional partners that can provide it with access to users of other social networks. — AFP-Relaxnews