![]() In May 2015 it reportedly spent $60 million to purchase a 20% stake – though the exact terms were not officially disclosed.ĭespite the large injection of cash, Pocket Gems said it will continue to operate independently with Tencent and Sequoia Capital remaining as minority investors. It’s not the first time Tencent has invested in the developer. Pocket Gems is also set to launch a new studio that has been working on a 3D synchronous multiplayer title for the hardcore gaming market for release later this year. The funding will go toward supporting major expansions for its titles Episode and War Dragons. If you have a hit, you have to double down or triple down on it.San Francisco developer Pocket Gems has received $90 million in investment from Chinese games giant Tencent. “As for the mobile game industry, the returns and opportunities are greater than they have ever been. “They share our vision for taking creative risks,” Liu said. “Tencent and Pocket Gems is the archetype of a new wave of East-West technology partnerships,” said Jim Goetz, partner at Sequoia Capital, in an email. He said that both Tencent and Sequoia Capital have been great supporters along the way. Liu said that relationship worked well and helped Pocket Gems reach the Chinese market, which is growing 100 percent from a year ago. In 2015, Tencent invested $60 million for a 20 percent stake. “People care about Episode and love participating in it,” Liu said. Liu said about half of the 220 employees are working on brand new titles, including a new intellectual property that will launch later this year. The investment will be used to support growth on the existing games and to invest in other major projects. More than 55,000 stories have been published. Then it responded to fan feedback by adding stories related to TV shows such as Pretty Little Liars, films such as Mean Girls, and pop stars like Demi Lovato. Fans could engage with choice-driven digital comics, which could be viewed one episode at a time. The Episode title launched in 2014 as an interactive storytelling app. Not only does this investment allow Pocket Gems to target a larger audience, it allows Tencent to utilise Pocket Gems expertise when launching its own games, in similar genres, in the West.” “In this case, Pocket Gems is successful in the West with strength in the interactive storytelling genre and synchronous 3D multiplayer genre on mobile. “Tencent’s strategy includes investments in gaming companies that augment its existing games and pipeline, picking up on trends for growth areas globally,” said Daniel Ahmad, analyst at Niko Partners, in an email. It was one of the pioneers in mobile games on the iPhone, and it has modified its strategy by focusing on few titles and working on innovative concepts for a long time. But Liu said that Pocket Gems’ strategy is different. Pocket Gems has big rivals including Supercell, Activision’s King, MZ, Netmarble, Nexon, Zynga, Jam City and many others. “It caters to hardcore gamers who want a beautiful 3D game and want to play with others in compelling battles.” “War Dragons had a slow start, but we never gave up on it,” Liu said. The attacks happen both in real time and asynchronously, where a team of attackers can attack in real-time against a defender who is offline. You also build up your base and dragons to fend off the attackers. ![]() In it, you build and customize the ultimate dragon army to annihilate the bases of your rivals. War Dragons has both player-versus-player and team-based multiplayer combat. ![]() Meanwhile, War Dragons is focused on the traditional hardcore gamer market, and its multiplayer has made it a perennial hit that people come back to over and over. ![]() We admire Pocket Gems’ history of focusing on top talent to create innovative new products that can delight users, and look forward to a bright future ahead.” Females ages 25 to 35 are the prime audience for the game.Ī spokesperson for Tencent said in an email, “We would like to highlight that Tencent is happy to reaffirm our long term support for our strategic partner. ![]() Episode, which is kind of like a comic book platform in which anybody can tell their own story, has had more than 90 million downloads and 3 billion episodes viewed to date. Liu did disclose that the company has had more than 300 million downloads to date. If the company sustained that rate year round, it would generate revenue of about $210 million. Pocket Gems had an estimated $17 million in revenue in April, according to mobile measurement firm Sensor Tower. That translated to the best numbers ever at the company.” We had the largest player base and number of users ever. “Things are better than they have ever been at the company,” said Ben Liu, CEO of Pocket Gems, in an interview with GamesBeat. ![]()
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