(Yicai) Jan. 15 -- Tencent Holdings' Honor of Kings, China’s most popular mobile video game, said it will be available for livestreaming on ByteDance's short video platform Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, from Jan. 21 after a more than two-year hiatus.

The multiplayer online battle arena announced its comeback on Douyin, China's biggest livestreaming platform by online traffic, on Weibo on Jan. 13.

Tencent, the country’s most profitable game developer, and ByteDance had been in dispute over livestreaming and video-related copyrights of the former's games dating back to 2018. The Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court ruled in 2021 that Douyin should stop livestreaming Honor of Kings and pay Tencent CNY8 million (USD1.1 million) in compensation.

A few years ago, Shenzhen-based Tencent used to sue streamers who played Honor of Kings on platforms under ByteDance, a source close to Douyin told Yicai.

Despite being China’s top mobile game, Honor of Kings’ number of monthly active users has fallen to around 150 million from a peak of 200 million over the past three years. The average time users spend playing the game each day has also dropped to 75 minutes from a high of nearly two hours. 

There were signs earlier that Tencent and Douyin were fixing their relationship, including when the most influential Honor of King live-streamer played Tencent's latest game DreamStar on Douyin last month.

Tencent's livestreaming platforms Douyu and Huya cannot support the firm's promotion and release of new games, according to Zhang Shule, a game industry analyst. After ByteDance quit the gaming industry, the pair's disputes disappeared, opening the way to cooperation, Zhang added.

ByteDance's gaming business shrank drastically last November. A week ago, Late Post reported that Nuverse, the gaming arm of the Beijing-based company, was in talks with Tencent about the sale of multiple games. Nuverse resounded that no deal with Tencent had been finalized.

Tencent will likely take over ByteDance's game projects because it is interested in merging and acquiring high-quality resources, Zhang pointed out. Tencent is the best option among large Chinese game developers for operating capability and funds, Zhang noted.

The internet sector has entered a stage of "vertical cultivation" from "bold expansion," which makes such partnerships possible, Zhang said. "Collaborations will bring more profit than competition for large internet companies, among which there are no huge strategic conflicts.”

Editors: Shi Yi, Martin Kadiev