While Dong Zhanbin hardly performs video games, some of the titles he has invested in are the most played throughout China. These encompass Dragon Nest M, which brought in almost RMB 1 billion in sales in its first month in the marketplace. As a founding accomplice at Qingsong Fund, Dong has additionally overseen the discharge of Three Kingdoms and Jiji Sanguo (an RPG much like King of Fighters), which was introduced in returns of extra than 60 times their original investment within six months. However, as the video game industry fast expands to a multibillion-greenback commercial enterprise, he has switched his recognition to different areas, including social gaming.
When he helped set up Qingsong in 2012, desktop gaming became king, even though phone titles had also gained traction. Dong seized on the danger of investing in mobile gaming startups as he predicted their commercial enterprise fashions to be similar to traditional gaming corporations. “During the PC era, we discovered that the clearest revenue version became video games,” he said. “And in the cellular technology, marketers might repeat the identical manner.” Dong and his crew invested more than 20 startups in the fund’s first section. But then the point of interest shifts completely. “Tencent and NetEase had taken up the lion’s share of the entire market, and listed gaming groups left only a few opportunities for startups,” Dong informed Technode. “There may be some possibilities for social games, consisting of our Werewolf investment in 2017,” he stated.
Dong didn’t put money into any video games after the primary section; however, that didn’t suggest he had given up at the gaming quarter — Laoyuegou, a gaming community for Chinese players, has come to be the biggest gaming search engine in China at the same time as audio-based social game Werewolves boasts over 60 million customers. He explained that his investment strategy is driven by more youthful game enthusiasts’ choice to make buddies. According to QuestMobile, the wide variety of active GenZ game enthusiasts has reached 275 million in China this June, and social functions are a key draw. “Making pals is the maximum fundamental requirement for more youthful generations to rid them of loneliness and to assist them in joining,” he stated.
