Interview

Animoca Brands on its hit resistant, high volume strategy for mobile gaming success

The more the better says CEO

Date Type Companies involved Size
February 16th, 2015 partnership Animoca Brands
OurPalm
Not disclosed
Animoca Brands on its hit resistant, high volume strategy for mobile gaming success

The latest game company to get its floated on a stock exchange is the Hong Kong-based Animoca Brands.

Its reverse-listing on the Australian Securities Exchange under the ticker AB1 occurred on 23 January 2015, and already the company is demonstrating its potential.

Recent release Doraemon Gadget Rush has generated 1.8 million downloads on Google Play and the App Store within two weeks of launch.

The game, which is based on a Japanese manga series about a time-travelling robotic cat has proved to be particularly popular in southeast Asia, gaining #1 download status in China, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Indonesia, amongst others countries.

Animaco Brands has also signed a deal with Chinese publisher OurPalm, which will see the game released in the fragmented but huge Chinese Android market.

More is more

More generally, it's this sort of activity that Animoca Brands is looking to build on thanks to the investment raised through its listing.

CEO Robby Yung says company, which develops its own games and also publishes thirdparty titles, is focused on a high number of releases: several new titles every month.

Doraemon Gadget Rush is finding an audience in southeast Asia

"We pursue a 'hit-resistant' strategy based on producing a large volume of games that appeal to different markets, demographics, genres, niches, and play styles," he explains.

We pursue a 'hit-resistant' strategy based on producing a large volume of games.
Robby Yung

"The more we can do the better."

To-date, Animoca Brands has released over 160 titles, gaining around 120 million downloads, including 40 million downloads of games based on the Garfield IP.

It also has the licence to make games based on brands such as Ben 10, Astro Boy and Ultraman.

"Thanks to this calculated diversification of risk, and unlike the vast majority of competitors, we don't need our individual games to become blockbusters in order to be successful," Yung adds.

"But it certainly helps when a game becomes as popular as Doraemon Gadget Rush."

Think different

One reason that Animoca Brands expects to thrive on this approach is its proprietary analytics and advertising technology.

This is integrated with all the main ad networks, allowing its games to generate the maximum revenue possible from the increasingly high value mobile advertising market.

In addition, a high volume ad-lead portfolio approach means Animoca Brands isn't spending millions of dollars on the expensive user acquisition campaigns that are required to launch and maintain a global hit that makes money from in-app purchases.

"Scale and ingenuity will provide us with new ways of monetising for our shareholders," says Yung.

Contributing Editor

A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon is Contributing Editor at PG.biz which means he acts like a slightly confused uncle who's forgotten where he's left his glasses. As well as letters and cameras, he likes imaginary numbers and legumes.