Animoca Spins Off “Animoca Brands”
New company consolidates properties and acquisitions based on famous intellectual properties
Singapore – May 21, 2014 - At the Casual Connect Asia conference today in Singapore, Animoca, the mobile game developer and publisher behind Pretty Pet Salon, Star Girl, Thor: Lord of Storms and other popular hits, announced it is spinning off part of its games business into a new company named Animoca Brands. Animoca Brands will develop and distribute games based on licensed content; in addition, the new company will also maintain a portfolio of original titles and publish third party games. Robby Yung, executive director of Animoca, was appointed chief executive officer of Animoca Brands.
In order to consolidate various projects and recent acquisitions, Animoca has transferred to Animoca Brands the licenses and rights to games for a number of well-known IPs including Garfield, Ben10, Doraemon, Ragnarok Online, Ultraman and others. Spinning off Animoca Brands as a separate business will allow the new entity to pursue more licensing partnerships and accelerate the production and launch of its games.
In addition to branded games, Animoca Brands will maintain a portfolio of original games and also act as a publisher for third party titles, leveraging its user base to distribute new app releases.
“This is the logical next step for us,” said David Kim, chief executive officer of Animoca. “With the original Animoca, we established a successful side business helping famous brands enter the exciting world of mobile gaming, and now Animoca Brands will take over that business while Animoca continues to pursue a strategy of wide and varied mass market offerings.”
“I am thrilled by the opportunity to head this important new initiative,” said Robby Yung, chief executive officer of Animoca Brands. “I look forward to growing the new business and working with our current and future partners to create games that honor and expand their IP.”
Branded mobile games in the portfolio of Animoca Brands include Ben 10 Ultimate Alien Xenodrome+, Garfield Tycoon, Garfield’s Escape, Doraemon Repair Shop, Ultraman Galaxy, Ragnarok: War of Gods, and several others.
About Animoca
Animoca (Appionics Holdings Ltd.) is a leading developer and publisher of mobile games and edutainment apps for global audiences. The company has released more than 300 apps across multiple platforms, with more than 220 million game downloads since launch in 2011. Animoca’s Pretty Pet Salon franchise and the Star Girl series have become wildly popular with audiences throughout the world, earning high acclaim from gamers and reviewers alike. Animoca also publishes edutainment apps under its Baby Cortex label. For more information, visit www.animoca.com.
About Animoca Brands
Animoca Brands Corporation Limited was formed in 2014 through the spinoff of part of the app portfolio of Animoca (Appionics Holdings Ltd.) and the consolidation of a number of partnerships and acquisitions. Animoca Brands creates and/or publishes globally a broad portfolio of mobile games for smartphones and tablets. Multiple Animoca Brands titles leverage internationally recognized intellectual properties, all fully licensed by their respective IP owners. Additionally, Animoca Brands develops and publishes a broad range of original games, and also serves as global or regional publisher for select games developed by third parties. Animoca Brands is based in Hong Kong.