Tencent And Alibaba Celebrate Chinese New Year With AR

Tencent and Alibaba have turned to augmented reality as a new battleground for a Chinese New Year tradition. The tradition of hongbao - the giving of red envelopes containing money - has been taken on by both companies who are now offering an augmented reality alternative. Alibaba's payment system, Alipay, is launching a 'Five Fortunes' game allowing players to leave a red envelope in a GPS-tagged location for friends to find. Meanwhile, Tencent's offering is aimed at younger gamers through its QQ messaging platform. The game consists of players hunting down red envelopes in nearby locations, which are guarded by digital avatars. Tencent has already attracted 250 million players. Both games have been compared by their creators to Pokémon Go.

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