SG gaming firm scores US$6m in Sea-anchored round

INVESTMENT IN AI – POWERED GAMING

• Singapore-headquartered Refract, an AI-powered gaming firm, has raised over US$6 million in a round anchored by Sea Group
• Established in 2018, Refract publishes games and experiences in the space of extended reality (XR), which adds digital elements to a real-world environment using tech like AI, virtual reality, and mixed reality
• Refract plans to use the new money to continue working on its Axis tech, following the creation of its XR game development division

ESL Gaming sold for US$1 billion to Savvy Gaming Group

SAUDI ARABIAN GOVERNMENT’S PUBLIC WEALTH ENTERS E-SPORTS

•  Modern Times Group has reportedly sold ESL Gaming, its esports organization, to Savvy Gaming Group for US$1 billion
• Savvy Gaming Group also acquired the competitive gaming platform FACEIT, The two deals will merge into a new company, ESL FACEIT
• Savvy Gaming Group is backed by the Saudi Arabian government’s Public Wealth Fund
• ESL was established in 2000 and was once the largest e-sports group in the world, the company has 170 million fans around the world
• The deal is a relatively large merger and acquisition in the e-sports industry in recent years

Stillfront to Acquire HK gaming company 6Waves Shares for US$201 million

STILLFRONT OWNS 22 GAME STUDIOS

•  Stillfront Group announced its intention to purchase 100% of the shares in the HK mobile publisher 6Waves, including Nexon's 34.8% stake
• Nexon originally made the investment in 6Waves in 2011, attempting to expand in the social gaming field
• Six waves was established in 2008 and headquartered in Hong Kong, and has teams in mainland China, Japan, and the United States
• Six waves main business is global mobile game publishing, focusing on SLG games, once published Strike of Kings in JP market
• Stillfront’s market value has tripled in 2020 alone; Including Six waves, Stillfront already owns 22 game studios
• The acquisition of Six waves is actually to further increase the Asian market

Tencent joins Exit Plan Games' third investment round

INVESTED IN PARTY GAME: BANG ON BALLS: CHRONICLES

• Tencent joins Sisu, Smok, One Two Play & Venture Inc to bolster new title’s release: Bang-On Balls: Chronicles
• Established in 2019, Exit Plan Games is a small group of game developers based in Warsaw, Poland, with many years of experience in the 3A industry
• In the new game, you become a highly-customizable hero who does missions, collects items, and searches for secrets through various (inaccurate) historical events

Tencent axes 70 staff, bars 13 firms in anti-corruption investigation

CHINA’S CRACKDOWN CONTINUES TO INTENSIFY

•  Tencent has axed almost 70 employees from its workforce that were said to have been involved in bribery and embezzlement last year; It has also blocked 13 companies from inking future contracts
• China has also increasingly been tightening its grip on cases of corruption, which has led to the same tech firms to focus more on their own investigations
• Team Insight:

1. Other giant game companies in China have been laying off staff recently due to company's own transition
2. Perfect world reduced "a few hundred to a thousand people" from the current development team of more than 4,000 people
3. TapTap's parent company XD is laying off staff with an amount close to one-third of the team
4. In 2021, game player preferences have undergone major changes. Although there is still a market for the MMOs, it was difficult for new MMO products to achieve long-term operation;  In contrast, the Anime waifu market has really grown, the revenue of Anime waifu mobile games in 2021 has exceeded ￥50 billion(US$7.9 B) , an increase of 47.9% compared to 2020

Blizzard announces a new survival game not based on its existing franchises

NEW GAME PRODUCT

•  Blizzard announced that it is working on a new title, a survival game. It’s a new IP, not based on any of Blizzard’s existing franchises, and it’s planned for consoles and PC
• Microsoft is buying Blizzard and its parent company, Activision. This followed a 2021 filled with reports of toxic work practices at the Warcraft and Overwatch studio

Activision Blizzard to bring Warcraft to mobile

BLIZZARD’S FIRST MOBILE ANNOUNCEMENT SINCE DIABLO IMMORTAL

• Discreetly tucked away in Activision Blizzard's earnings report was an declaration to bring the Warcraft franchise to mobile, although details remain scarce.
• Specifically, the report states: "Blizzard is planning substantial new content for the Warcraft franchise in 2022, including getting all-new mobile Warcraft content into players’ hands for the first time
• Activision Blizzard‘s net bookings of US$2.49 billion in the fourth quarter ended December 31 fell short of expectations on Wall Street, with the net bookings down 18% compared to US$3.05 billion a year ago
• That means that Call of Duty: Vanguard did not, as analysts suspected, perform as well as last year’s Call of Duty: Black Ops — Cold War

Yu-Gi-OH master duel is launched in Japan

NEW GAME PRODUCT

• The new CBG is developed by Konami
•  iOS/Google Play

Chinese Mobile games: Oversea market report

GENSHIN IMPACT RANKED TOP GROSSING, 42 MOBILE GAMES EARNED MORE THAN US$100 M ANNUALLY

•  In 2021, a total of 42 Chinese mobile games generated more than US$100 M in revenue in overseas markets
• The total oversea market revenue of the TOP30 Chinese mobile game reached US$11.5 B in the App Store and Google Play, an increase of 24% from US$9.24 B in 2020 and 1.8 times that of 2019
• The US market contributed US$3.6 B in revenue to TOP30 mobile games, an increase of 53% compared to 2020, replacing Japan and becoming the largest overseas market for Chinese mobile games
• Driven by Tencent's "PUBG Mobile" and Moonton’s "MLBB", the annual revenue of the Turkish mobile game market exceeded US$600 M, a YoY+ of 70%; The revenue of Top30 Chinese mobile games increased by 140%, making Turkey the seventh largest overseas market for China mobile games

Newzoo: TikTok: The New Destination to Reach Global Gamers

TIKTOK IS A NEW FRONTIER FOR MOBILE GAME PUBLISHERS AND ADVERTISERS

•  The rising metaverse trend sees games increasingly growing into social experiences
• Content creation inside and outside of the gaming world is the new norm for game-related engagement
• With its 1 billion monthly users, TikTok has become a new hub for brands, creators, and consumers rallying around passionate gaming communities at scale
• Demographics

1. Almost half of all mobile gamers in the markets we surveyed use TikTok. Those in emerging markets tend to have even higher TikTok penetration
2. TikTok Mobile Gamers Are More Diverse and Younger
3. TikTok mobile gamers play 36% longer than those that are not on TikTok. They also install 50% more games and are over 40% more likely to pay for both games and add-ons
4. Nearly 70% of mobile gamers on TikTok say the platform is a great way for developers to get their attention
5. TikTok Mobile Gamers are more likely to play all Genres and are more interested in core genres like RPG and strategy games
6. TikTok Mobile Gamers: More Likely to Recommend, Discuss, and Socialize in Games

• Read more here

Newzoo: Esports & Games Live Streaming Trends to Watch 2022

ESPORTS & GAMING LIVE STREAMING TRENDS

• Blockchain will become more prominent in Esports as organizations continue to diversify revenue streams; Now the esports market relies heavily on sponsorship, which accounted for almost 60% of esports revenues last year
• Esports audiences have been largely positive about blockchain and NFTs
• Esports NFT innovations are mainly about demonstrating fandom—often outside the esports events themselves
• Mobile Esports will continue to grow as the biggest mobile publishers fight for dominance
• Improving 5G tech will strengthen mobile internet connections and make esports play more stable and viable
• Expect more platforms and publishers to announce live-streaming-first solutions leveraging creator-viewer interaction

 Thailand eyes crypto regulation for payments

CRYPTO REGULATION IN THAILAND

• Thailand’s regulatory firms will be setting guidelines for the local use of digital assets in transactions
• The Bank of Thailand, Securities and Exchange Commission, and Ministry of Finance stressed the growing usage of digital assets among consumers and businesses
• This increased adoption, however, comes with financial and economic risks such as “price volatility, cybertheft, personal data leakage, or money laundering.”

Vietnam’s Appota Group backs NFT game project

NFT GAMES

• NFT game project Slime Royale has received strategic investment and incubation support from Vietnam-based entertainment firm Appota Group
• The incubation will help it access Appota Group’s ecosystem of more than 50 million users
• Slime Royale combines gameplay and the decentralized financial model, allowing players to earn money through the game. The gameplay involves raising creatures called Slimes that are used for battling and tournaments
• MI Team Insight:

1. Slime Royale has a new approach to solve the "inflation" of NFT games
2. Slime Royale chose a new strategy: attract both play-to-earn players and pay-for-fun players
3. The team aims to create a game that encourages pay-for-fun players to trade with play-to-earn players
4. All NFT items in Slime Royale must be a hard cap at a minimal quantity, which will protect the economy and the NFT Slime

Netmarble unveils upcoming Metaverse and NFT projects

70% OF UPCOMING GAMES WITH UTILISE BLOCKCHAIN TECH

• Netmarble revealed in a press conference that the company is preparing to launch 20 games, of which 70% will use blockchain tech
• Netmarble will first integrate blockchain tech in its RPG A3: Still Alive in March this year, allowing players to monetise in-game assets, such as weapons, with cryptocurrency. As such, A3: Still Alive will be Netmarble’s first play-to-earn title
• Another upcoming title, Everybody's Marble: Metaworld, will focus on the metaverse and virtual real estate, allowing users to purchase virtual plots of land to do with as they wish, such as advertise or hold events, as seen in similar games
• As play-to-earn games are banned in South Korea the majority of the upcoming slew of games is planned to be marketed overseas
• Com2Us also launched an official website for its blockchain platform C2X which links various NFTs exchanges and games to support transactions