This means that while it's active in its domestic market, the Beijing-based company is taking a more global approach.
Building on its past relationship with corporates like Qualcomm, it's attending international conferences such as Mobile World Congress and looking to fulfill its goal of 'One Dream, One Game'.
We caught up with CEO Qi Fang to find out more.
Pocket Gamer: Can you give us some background about A-onesoft?
Qi Fang: Established in 2004, our full name is Beijing A-onesoft Science & Technology Development, Inc, and we're headquartered in Beijing, with a subsidiary in the US.
Our team is young and full of energy and innovation. Out of our staff of 200, 160 are developers.
Our formation came from our president Mr. Fang. He said, "Someone may not have a PC, but no one cannot have a mobile phone", so he's been very interested in mobile games. Thanks to this vision, he established A-onesoft with some of his friends.
We've released more than 500 games and apps, including for Java, Brew, online PC, but now we're focused on iOS and Android games, and seeking new opportunity to cooperate with overseas distribution channels. We hope to provide high quality mobile products to the global market.
Your company's vision is 'One Dream, One Game'. What does this mean?
There are two meanings for 'One Dream, One Game'.
It represents the company's cooperative culture. We're a group of young people with dreams, working hard at A-onesoft and enjoying a happy life. We are aiming to make a difference and bring laughter to every corner of the world.
Crazy Panda was one of A-onesoft's first international releases
Also, the 'One Game' part is our aim to be a leading game developer and publisher. Making the best applications and games for the global market is our dream.
A-onesoft floated on the Shenzen Stock Exchange in 2012. Why did you do this?
We have established a high quality team with professional development skills so the reason to float on the Shenzen Stock Exchange was definitely to further our business development.
We have also begun to attend international conferences, and promote our mobile games overseas.
Over the years, you've had a strong relationship with Qualcomm and its BREW platform. It's that something you still work on?
We've been a strategic partner with Qualcomm since 2005, and we have built a strong relationship with it.
One of the company's Brew titles is Army of Justice Defense
Now, not only are we providing Brew products, but also Android products, some of which are based on Qualcomm's AllJoyn [interoperability] technology. We've been invited to AllJoyn technology exchanges and conferences during the past three years.
A-onesoft releases games across casual and hardcore genres. How do you approach this?
Different countries, platforms and users have different requirements.
But in terms of the Chinese mobile gaming market, there are four features we think about.
- Most players are newbies.
- Small payment amounts are very easy.
- Casual social online games are popular.
- And the rate of conversion is fairly high, about 5-10 Yuan ($0.80 to $1.60) per person.
For each game, we need to think clearly, Who is my main target user? Where is my main target user? How can we get more engaged users? We also constantly think about what users need most.
When you look at international markets, which ones are you particularly focusing on?
We've been publishing our smartphone games internationally since 2010, and before that as a Brew developer, we particularly worked with carriers such as TATA, Verizon and Movilnet.
Now we are interested in Southeast Asia and Brazil. We hope that we can cooperate with companies there as soon as possible.
Online strategy game Glory & Conquer is coming to iOS and Android
What have been your most successful games?
Crazy Gems, Crazy Panda and Chinese Poker have been released successfully on iOS and Android.
Crazy Gems is a double battle elimination game where you see who can eliminate gems fastest. It's a good game to play with your friends and if there is no network, you can use wifi to play.
Crazy Panda is puzzle game that's similar to Crazy Bird, but we added tilt control, while Chinese Poker is a network card game that's very popular in China. We think the graphics are particularly good.
What do you think are the biggest challenges facing Chinese mobile developers?
Many users are searching online for games, while ten thousands of new games are released from different countries, different developers and on different platforms.
In this competitive environment, it's important for us to sell our games directly and quickly, but making sure they are high quality is the most important thing.
What should we expect next from A-onesoft?
'One Dream, One Game' is a goal we have always been committed to.
We will release three new mobile games before July; one console-style game for iOS, and two online Android games. Stay tuned.
Thanks to Qi Fang for his time.
You can find out more about A-onesoft via its website.
