Animoca Brands signs deal with Tencent to distribute a mobile game in Asia

Animoca Brands has signed a deal with Asian gaming giant Tencent to distribute the Armies of Dragons tower defense game in Asia on the WeChat social messenger platform.

Asia Pacific is considered the world’s largest market for the mobile game industry. In 2014, the region’s 760 million mobile gamers generated $13.6 billion in revenue, accounting for 55 percent of the global mobile gaming market, according to the 2015 Global Mobile Game Industry Whitebook.

The deal is an interesting experiment, as Animoca Brands had previously launched Armies of Dragons last year and got 750,000 downloads. Now it’s angling for more — and since Tencent is the world’s largest gaming company and happens to own WeChat, which has 600 million users across Asia, this should result in more players for its game.

Under the deal, Animoca Brands will use Tencent to exclusively distribute its mobile game in markets such as Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. WeChat has had more than a billion downloads to date, and it added 50 million users last quarter. And since players in Asia download games through third-parties such as chat apps more than they do from app stores, it’s important for publishers to be on these platforms.

The companies will share revenue from in-game purchases for the medieval-themed tower defense mobile game. It launch in the five countries in November, and it will help Animoca Brands expand its distribution channels and drive user acquisition and in-app purchases.

Hong Kong-based Animoca Brands is traded publicly on the Australian Stock Exchange. It makes titles such as a Garfield game and one based on Paris Hilton’s life. All told, Animoca Brands’ games have been downloaded more than 140 million times.

The deal includes the right of first negotiation to exclusively publish and distribute sequel titles or games substantially similar to Armies of Dragons.