Gamania Digital Entertainment Co (遊戲橘子), a leading online game developer and publisher, will be making forays into the US and European markets this year as part of its global expansion plan.
“This will be a challenging year to us, as we are moving at the global stage for growth,” Gamania chairman and chief executive officer Albert Liu (劉柏園) said on Friday.
Starting in March, an animation production titled Hero 108 will air on the Cartoon Network in the US and Europe, paving the way for the release of an online game of the same title in the markets during the second quarter, he said.
The animated series, which has a total of 52, 11-minute episodes, is expected to generate curiosity in Western audiences about the main characters, which are based on Water Margin (水滸傳), a Chinese classic.
Hero 108 will be one of the five to seven self-developed game titles to be launched by Gamania as it seeks to increase revenue for its own titles against those that it distributes for other developers.
Gamania launched three games in 2008, marking its entry into the self-developed game sector. The company is making a comeback by developing more titles this year after a quiet last year, which didn’t see any new releases.
Own titles contribute to more than 10 percent of total sales for Gamania and it expects the figure to increase to 25 percent next year, Liu told reporters at a media gathering.
With new titles scheduled to be released starting in the second quarter, greater sales momentum is expected in the second half of the year, Liu said, adding that a revenue increase of between 10 percent and 20 percent this year was “achievable.”
Gamania saw its consolidated sales last year hit a record high of NT$5.17 billion (US$157 million), an increase of 35 percent from the previous year.
Its revenue in Taiwan grew 26 percent last year, up 75 percent in Hong Kong and up 67 percent in Japan, the company said. Gamania is also eyeing gamers in China for business expansion.
The company is already distributing games in China, but it now aims to release own-developed titles there in the second quarter, Gamania chief strategy officer William Chen (陳威光) said.
The company will publish online games with its Chinese partner, with Gamania licensing its technology while its partner will manage operations, he said.
Taiwan represents about 70 percent of Gamania’s total sales, with Hong Kong and Japan providing the rest, Hua Nan Securities Investment (華南投顧) said in a report on Dec. 25.
Despite Gamania having regional offices in China and South Korea, the two markets are still in the early developing stage and substantial growth in the short term is unlikely, Hua Nan said.
But the US market, where the company opened an office in the last quarter, and Europe, where offices will be opened this year, could be two new revenue drivers, the report said.
Meanwhile, bolstered by rosy online gaming prospects, rival Gameflier International Corp (遊戲新幹線), a subsidiary of Softworld International Entertainment Corp (智冠科技), is expected to launch initial public offering in the Gretai Securities Market in the second half.
Taiwan will prioritize the development of silicon photonics by taking advantage of its strength in the semiconductor industry to build another shield to protect the local economy, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) said yesterday. Speaking at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee, Liu said Taiwan already has the artificial intelligence (AI) industry as a shield, after the semiconductor industry, to safeguard the country, and is looking at new unique fields to build more economic shields. While Taiwan will further strengthen its existing shields, over the longer term, the country is determined to focus on such potential segments as
UNCERTAINTY: Innolux activated a stringent supply chain management mechanism, as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure optimal inventory levels for customers Flat-panel display makers AUO Corp (友達) and Innolux Corp (群創) yesterday said that about 12 to 20 percent of their display business is at risk of potential US tariffs and that they would relocate production or shipment destinations to mitigate the levies’ effects. US tariffs would have a direct impact of US$200 million on AUO’s revenue, company chairman Paul Peng (彭雙浪) told reporters on the sidelines of the Touch Taiwan trade show in Taipei yesterday. That would make up about 12 percent of the company’s overall revenue. To cope with the tariff uncertainty, AUO plans to allocate its production to manufacturing facilities in
COLLABORATION: Given Taiwan’s key position in global supply chains, the US firm is discussing strategies with local partners and clients to deal with global uncertainties Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday said it is meeting with local ecosystem partners, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), to discuss strategies, including long-term manufacturing, to navigate uncertainties such as US tariffs, as Taiwan occupies an important position in global supply chains. AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) told reporters that Taiwan is an important part of the chip designer’s ecosystem and she is discussing with partners and customers in Taiwan to forge strong collaborations on different areas during this critical period. AMD has just become the first artificial-intelligence (AI) server chip customer of TSMC to utilize its advanced
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down