Page 74 - Forbes - Asia (July - August 2018)

FORBES ASIA
BEST UNDER A BILLION — IGG

Mobile Lords

In Singapore, Fuzhou or wherever games are developed,
IGG battles for its piece of the gaming action.

BY ANURADHA RAGHUNATHAN

t was November 2012, and the $13 founding group), instantly endorsed Xu’s million for the year ended December 31,
billion mobile gaming market was strategy. IGG pivoted to mobile gaming. 2017. Proits have soared from $72 million
all the rage in Silicon Valley. But he 200 or so developers at that time were to $156 million in the same period. Also,
there was no sense of that urgency retrained. hey worked 14-hour days to IGG has free cash of $222 million. his
I at Singapore gaming company IGG roll out IGG’S irst mobile strategy game, performance has earned it a spot on Forbes
(I Got Games), which was into desktop, Castle Clash, which involves the defense of Asia’s Best Under A Billion list for a second
browser and Facebook games. a tower. he game raked in millions of dol- year in a row, one of six game outits so
From his base in Silicon Valley, IGG’s lars in the irst year. In 2016 IGG released honored in 2018.
cofounder and chief operating oicer Lords Mobile, a blockbuster war-strategy And there’s more growth to come at
Kevin (Yuan) Xu wasn’t happy with the game. It’s now bringing in $58 million a the $1.8 billion (market cap) company, as
disconnect. He called for a meeting with month. the mobile gaming market is projected to
IGG’s founder Zongjian Cai and two other Revenues, which are mostly from rise from $56 billion in calendar 2017 to
cofounders as well as key investors at the in-game purchases, have risen from $322 $70 billion in 2018 to $106 billion in 2021.
gaming outit’s development hub in Fuzhou million in calendar year 2016 to $607 he Asia-Paciic region, which accounts
in southern China. “I wanted the company for nearly two thirds of the global mobile
to move 100% to mobile games,” says TOP MOBILE GAMING COUNTRIES gaming spend, is expected to spur growth
43-year-old Xu, who has a Ph.D. in electri- IN THE APAC REGION with China and Japan leading the charge
cal engineering from the University of 2018 REVENUES (see chart).
Santa Cruz. “I convinced them—over two ($BIL) “here’s obviously a disproportionate
days of discussions—that there was a hu- number of people in the region, but the
CHINA $23.0
mongous opportunity in front of us, and if growth is also because of the prevalence
JAPAN 12.9
we caught it we’d be a $1 billion company.” of smartphones and mobile infrastruc-
SOUTH KOREA 3.1
Cai, IGG’s reclusive 40-year-old chief INDIA 1.1 ture,” says Tom Wijman, market analyst at
executive and chairman from Fuzhou, who INDONESIA 0.8 Newzoo, which provides insights on the
has a 14% stake (the largest among the SOURCE: NEWZOO. gaming, mobile and esports industries.

72 | FORBES ASIA JULY / AUGUST 2018