Online game publisher Gamania Digital Entertainment Co (遊戲橘子) aims to swing back into the black this year, after an unprofitable year due to investment losses in XPEC Entertainment Inc (樂陞科技), company executives said yesterday.
“I am optimistic about the outlook of Gamania’s core business this year. Moreover, the investment in XPEC will not affect Gamania anymore, as we had finished booking the losses last year,” company chairman and chief executive officer Albert Liu (劉柏園) told a press conference at Gamania’s headquarters in Taipei.
INVESTMENT LOSS
The online game publisher has not released its earnings for last quarter, but its net losses in the first three quarters of last year totaled NT$348.6 million (US$11.32 million), or NT$2.21 per share, mainly because it booked NT$325 million in investment losses in XPEC in the third quarter, according to the firm’s filings with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
In a bid to accelerate the corporate transformation, Liu said Gamania has divided its core business into four units: online games, third-party payment, e-commerce and media.
Liu said Gamania is to publish six online PC and mobile games this year, including a product that leverages augmented-reality technology and two games developed in-house with well-known intellectual property holders and developers.
He said the company is to extend the reach of its third-party payment tool, Gama Pay (橘子支), by increasing the number of its locations across the nation to 100,000 this year.
PARTNERSHIPS
Jollywiz Digital Technology Co Ltd (樂利數位), Gamania’s cross-border e-commerce subsidiary, is to collaborate with South Korean and Japanese e-commerce platforms to expand its scope, Liu said.
Gamania plans to increase its stake in the online news network NOWnews from 33 percent to more than 50 percent in the second half of this year or at the beginning of next year, he added.
It will also continue investing in its on-demand content streaming subsidiary, Coture (酷瞧), as part of efforts to grow Gamania’s social influence on the Internet, Liu said.
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