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New mobile publisher Habby on the hunt for indie games

Profiling Habby - the hot new games publisher from Asia

New mobile publisher Habby on the hunt for indie games

A new publisher formed by the core team at Chinese mobile internet company Cheetah Mobile is on the hunt for developers to partner with.

The team has previously worked on top titles including the quirky Arrow.io, Google Play’s Best Game of 2016 Rolling Sky, the fast-paced Dancing Line and musical arcade game Piano Tiles 2 - the latter of which has generated more than 1.2 billion million downloads.

The new company is called Habby. The name comes from a mix of the words ‘hobby’ and ‘happy’, which reflects the kind of addictive - but importantly not negatively so - and fun games the team is pushing out onto the app stores.

It’s headed up by CEO Stefan Wang, who has been the product manager and producer on a number of those successful titles at Cheetah Mobile, and now plans to bring that expertise to Habby.

The core ambition of Habby is to create original mobile titles for iOS and Android, not just copycat versions of other hits, as well as titles that can help improve players’ skills outside the game itself.

The team has an abundance of experience in mobile from developing and publishing games released in the Chinese market and on the global stage.

Habby CEO Stefan Wang

As the 1.2 billion-plus downloads of Piano Tiles and the viral success of Rolling Sky show, Habby has the knowledge to manage global hits. In fact, 80 per cent of its users were from outside of China.

Whereas many other publishers, including very successful local ones, have struggled to cross the West/East divide, Habby has already proven it can find a broader reach.

Habby is currently on the lookout for indie games to publish in China and across the globe. To that end, the team at Habby will be at GDC 2018 (March 19th to 23rd) and Game Connection America (March 19th to 21st) to find potential partners.

What’s it looking for? Casual to mid-core type games, specifically those that are fun yet carry a message for players.

For its part, its experienced staff can offer developers services and guidance in product design, optimisation, operations, marketing and localisation.

Habby is also willing to co-develop titles with other studios on early-stage projects, as well as help find investment, and provide tech support and art support.

One partnership the Habby has already formed is with fellow games company Boombit Games, for a joint venture company.

To get in touch with the team at Habby, you can meet them at GDC and Game Connection America. You can also get in touch with the team now about publishing opportunities at business@habby.fun.

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