Tencent turns to ByteDance in gaming showdown with NetEase

Tencent Holdings is relying on one-time bitter rival ByteDance to promote its most important video game release in years, in a sign of warming relations as well as intensifying competition as China's gaming industry returns to growth. Tencent released on Friday mobile party game "DreamStar" that it hopes to challenge "Eggy Party", a similar offering from NetEase which has become a surprise hit this year with 100 million monthly active users. Analysts expect DreamStar to earn up to 6 billion yuan ($842 million) in its first year, while they forecast Eggy Party, which owes much of its success to advertising on ByteDance platforms, to earn 8 billion yuan for NetEase this year.