Frog Gone: China’s Beloved Traveling Game Is Going Offline

A mobile game beloved by millions of Chinese users about a traveling frog is set to shut down after the game operator and the IP holder failed to reach a licensing agreement. 

Announced Tuesday by its official account on microblogging platform Weibo, the game, Travel Frog: China Journey, will discontinue on Dec. 8. 

“This time, the little frog is going on a long journey, with no set date of return,” the announcement read. “But that quiet companionship will always remain in our hearts.”

A video game insider told domestic media that the IP holder, Japanese gaming studio Hit-Point, sought harsher terms from domestic operator Lingxi Games, including stripping it of its right to collaborate with other companies and sell game-related merchandise. After multiple rounds of negotiations, the companies could not reach an agreement, though the insider disclosed that they are in a final round of talks.

Travel Frog, released in 2017, is an idle game, meaning gameplay progresses with little player input. Chinese users began downloading the Japanese version before tech giant Alibaba secured authorization to publish it exclusively in the Chinese mainland under its gaming division, Lingxi Games, a year later. By then, the original version was already popular, with iOS downloads in China alone exceeding 30 million. 

At its peak, the game was more popular than the domestic, Tencent-produced game Honour of Kings, topping the domestic App Store free chart. Lingxi Games was acquired by the private equity firm Trustar Capital in August this year. 

In Travel Frog: China Journey, the protagonist, a frog who lives alone in a cave, passes its days reading, writing in its diary, eating, and whittling wood. It also travels around China, such as to the Great Wall in Beijing and West Lake in the eastern city of Hangzhou. While on the road, it meets fellow animal travelers, brings back local specialties, and sends home postcards, which devoted users post on WeChat.

After learning that the game would be discontinued, a graduate student in Shanghai surnamed Fang spent a day trying to redownload it. She had played since her first year of university but hadn’t reinstalled the game after changing phones, not thinking it would shut down permanently. 

 “(I will have to) think of it as a child growing up and setting off on a new journey — a solo trip where the parents don’t need to worry anymore,” Fang said. “I really loved my frog … It felt like a real little baby.”

Another player, surnamed Wang, in the southern city of Guangzhou, first tried the game’s Japanese version in 2018. The frog’s ability to travel, rest, and meet friends whenever it wanted — moved her, as she said that adult life is all about KPIs, responsibilities, and pressure.

When she learned the game would be taken offline, Wang told Sixth Tone that she was devastated. “This isn’t just a game,” she said. “It’s a second life.”

Online, some called the move the “tears of an era,” a Chinese internet slang term referring to something that evokes a strong sense of nostalgia. Others lamented that their “youth is over,” or said they could not bear to delete the game, hoping it might one day be restored. 

Editor: Marianne Gunnarsson.

(Header image: A screenshot from Travel Frog: China Journey. From Weibo)