Valorant creates a new iPhone record in China; earns $1 million in player spending within…

Valorant

, a mobile game backed by Chinese tech giant

Tencent

, has made a strong debut on the iPhone in China. The game has reportedly generated $1 million in gross player spending on the first day of its release. As per Appfigures data (as seen by Bloomberg), the colourful shooting title that first came out on PC in 2020 had nearly 170,000 downloads through App Store on its debut date (almost as many as Tencent’s DnF Mobile a year earlier) and currently ranks as the top downloaded iPhone app in the country. Co-developed by Tencent-backed

Riot Games

and

Lightspeed Studios

, the mobile version of the game is currently exclusive to China, with no announced global release date. The free-to-play game earns revenue through in-app purchases and character cosmetics, a similar strategy to Tencent's previous mobile hit, DnF Mobile. Appfigures noted that while DnF Mobile generated nearly five times more revenue at launch, Valorant currently ranks sixth among the highest-earning games.Last week, the company announced that

Valorant Mobile

received over 70 million pre-registrations across platforms. However, Appfigures does not measure spending or downloads on Android, which operates through multiple app stores in China.The original Valorant PC game is known for its fast-paced style, where players can be eliminated quickly. It is still uncertain how this experience will translate to smartphones, where touch controls reduce precision.

Last year, one of Tencent’s studios tested Ace Force 2, a mobile title with similar gameplay to Valorant, but it was discontinued shortly after launch.

Tencent’s journey of shooting games so far

Tencent has a strong presence in shooting games, having earlier brought Call of Duty to smartphones. Company executives have stated their goal is to provide players with a wide variety of choices, though it is still uncertain whether these titles might compete against each other. On mobile, Tencent manages several shooting franchises, including PUBG Mobile, CrossFire, and its own Delta Force and Arena Breakout.