With the funds coming from China’s Alibaba and two more undisclosed Chinese companies, Kabam is really going all-in in China.
Kabam has shed around 25 staffers to concentrate moving forward in the Chinese market. Even after the layoffs, Kabam will have over 825 staffers.
“The opportunity to create a $1 billion annual mobile game franchise is real,” CEO Kevin Chou writes in a blog post discussing the company’s restructuring plans. “We are in a market where the largest game franchise in the world is no longer on console, but rather on a mobile device. And the market is still growing at a blistering pace, where the winners of tomorrow will be much bigger.”
The studio’s free-to-play strategy titles such as Kingdoms of Camelot and movie-licensed titles such as The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle Earth and The Godfather: Five Families have been successful and made a lot ripples in the gaming industry.
The company’s goal is now to reach the top of the mobile charts in the Chinese market. “I know Kabam has the industry’s best talent and leadership team to do it.”
With the focus on creating AAA mobile games, the company has also cancelled games that were not of AAA quality, according to Kevin’s post. He also writes that the company wants to strengthen its ties with Hollywood; it has already released games based on The Fast and the Furious and The Lord of the Rings. The studio is more focused now and will release only 4 games this year from the 12 games last year.
