The search engine Baidu started a CryptoKitties-style blockchain in an attempt to challenge the traditional and lucrative game for supremacy on the Chinese market.
Baidu Launches CryptoKitties-Style Game Leci Gou
The application, called Leci Gou, offers puppies instead of kittens, but the concept will be quite familiar to CryptoKitties users.
Visitors can adopt digital pets, per head with unique physical attributes that define its rarity and price. Owners can breed digital dogs or sell them to other users.
However, while CryptoKitties operates on Ethereum’s public building blockchain, Baidu did not disclose whether Leci Gou uses a public or private blockchain developed and maintained by the blockchain research team participating in the Hyperledger consortium.
Another distinction is that Leci Gou at least currently accepts only the blockchain’s tokens so that users can not buy and sell their pets using real money unless they facilitate these transactions on the platform. But, Baidu says the game is still in beta testing, so it is possible the company to monetize it later.
Meanwhile, new users with Baidu accounts can adopt a digital puppy and get 1,000 free chips in the game.
CryptoKitties comes to China
In particular, Leci Gou’s release comes just weeks before CryptoKitties launches in China through a distribution contract with Animoku game company in Hong Kong, according to a Quartz article.
According to the publication, the game will be assigned during the Lunar New Year, which begins on February 16, and will feature a holiday-themed feline line to commemorate this occasion. The article also says it will be called “mi lian mao,” which turns roughly into “Obsession Cat.”
In order to avoid regulatory problems associated with China’s ban on cryptocurrency exchanges, the application will not tell users how to exchange Ethereum for coins.
If CryptoKitties shows to be as famous in China as elsewhere, it could again lead to a significant clutter over the Ethereum network, creating a problem to reduce the platform to resume its head.
