Beijing-based gaming company Kunlun, or Kalends, has filed for IPO on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Founded in 2008, Kunlun develops and distributes client/web/mobile games, operates two app stores (desktop (Windows/Mac) app store Brothersoft and Android app store iMobile), and owns Wiyou.com, a game platform for traditional Chinese-language users.
In the first half of 2014, 79% of Kunlun’s total revenues were from outside mainland China. More than 90% of revenues generated overseas are from its own platform, according to the filing (Kunlun games are available on third-party gaming platforms too).
Since 2009 Kunlun has set up offices in Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, the U.S., Taiwan, and Europe.
Mobile games contributed 48.5% of its total gaming revenues in 2013, up vertiginously from 4.8% in the previous year. The majority of mobile gaming revenue is from licensed games. Feng Yun San Guo, the self-developed mobile game, only generated 3.9% of the total in the year.
In the first six months of 2014, mobile gaming revenue as a percentage of total increased to 68%.
Brothersoft and iMobile had 6.6 million and 13.3 million monthly active users respectively, in the first six months of 2014. Users of iMobile are in North America, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. The revenue sources of the app stores include advertising, paid downloads, and revenue shares from apps and in-app purchases, among others.
RaidCall (RC), a voice chat service targeted at users outside of mainland China, was launched in 2010. As of September 2014, the English version had registered 14.1 million users with 850,000 being active, while the traditional Chinese version had had 6.5 million registered users. Changyou, the gaming company of Sohu, acquired 62.5% of the service in November 2013, though it hasn’t as yet generated any revenues.