Shenzhen Tech Giants Deepen Rift As Huawei App Store List Snubs Tencent’s Video Games

Multiple video game titles from Tencent Holdings have disappeared from the top lists of the app store of smartphone maker Huawei Technologies, in sign of a deepening dispute between the two Shenzhen-based tech giants.

As of Friday, almost all of Tencent’s mobile games have disappeared from the top game rankings of Huawei’s app store, leaving three NetEase games – Eggy Party, Identity V and Fantasy Westward Journey – in the top positions.

A previous ranking on June 18 saw two Tencent titles – action role-playing game Dungeon & Fighter (DnF) Mobile and strategy game The Golden Spatula – rank first and eighth, respectively, on the list of bestselling games in the Huawei app store, according to a report by Chinese gaming media Gamelook earlier this week. It was unclear when the Tencent titles were removed from the lists.

Tencent and Huawei did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday.

The rift between Tencent and Huawei was laid bare a month ago after the video gaming giant pulled its hit title DnF Mobile from the Huawei store.

That move came after Tencent removed DnF Mobile – a runaway hit which is expected to gross around 6 billion yuan (US$826 million) annually – from the shelves of Android-based platforms, including those of Huawei, Oppo and Vivo, from June 20.

Tencent’s games reappeared after a few hours on Huawei’s app store, with both sides claiming that their dispute was solved “after friendly negotiations”. Neither Huawei nor Tencent has offered an explanation for what happened.