This article only represents the author's own views.
Growing opportunities for highly personalized entertainment over increasingly sophisticated smartphones is creating new opportunities for mobile games to claim a piece of a pie long dominated by traditional PC games. Now, investors could have a chance to buy into the role playing game (RPG) segment of that mobile market with a planned IPO by specialist developer Uni-Star Interactive Holding Ltd. Despite its niche in the RPG realm, however, Uni-Star could be a hard sell due to its declining fortunes lately as its two most popular titles head into the twilight of their lifecycles.
According to its listing document filed late last month, Uni-Star recorded 5.5 billion yuan ($750 million) in gross billings from its RPGs in 2023, making it China’s third-largest RPG mobile game provider with 6% of the market. Its “Nine Realms: Sword & Immortals” and “Sword Fantasy” are its two biggest breadwinners with the highest gross billings.