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.
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