Connect with us

Asia

iCandy Acquires Renowned Lemon Sky Studios, To Form Largest Game Development Company in Australia and Southeast Asia

Published

on

Reading Time: 3 minutes

 

iCandy Interactive Limited announced its 100% acquisition of the leading Southeast Asian gaming studio, Lemon Sky Studios. This acquisition adds strategic value and significant scale to iCandy’s existing capabilities. It will form the largest pure-play game development company on the Australian Stock Exchange, and in Australia and Southeast Asia too, with more than 450 employees while generating no less than A$17 million (US$12.36 million) revenue per annum.

With significant interest and best-regarded growth in gaming driven by the metaverse concept, iCandy Interactive and Lemon Sky will be a leading powerhouse through its regional expansion plans in developing casual and AAA gaming on blockchain for the open metaverse.

The metaverse is a virtual world that allows work and play, shared by millions (or billions) of people. It is built with next-generation technology encompassing Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Video and Gaming technologies.

iCandy Interactive’s core business is in game development, game publishing, and esports. The company is the co-founder of the global esports league and platform, Esports Players League (ESPL), fast-growing across 17 countries in Southeast Asia, South Asia, Latin America and Europe.

Games on the iCandy network are played by over 360 million mobile gamers worldwide. The gaming studios based in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia have won multiple awards, including Google Play’s Best of 2016 and 2017 New Android Excellence Game Award* Games Award for Crab War and other various coveted international events.

Its latest game release, Claw Stars, is a top-rated mobile game with over 1 million downloads since its initial release in July 2021. It has received more than 50,000 4-star and 5-star reviews on Google Play and App Store.

Founded in 2006, Lemon Sky Studios is an award-winning video game and animation studio world-renowned for providing innovative visual art solutions for critically acclaimed

AAA gaming titles ranging from Overwatch 2, Call of Duty – Infinite Warfare, to SimCity, Diablo 3, StarCraft: Remastered, amongst many other illustrious titles.

The studio has amassed an incredible clientele over its 15-year history, working with gaming industry leaders such as Blizzard Entertainment, Naughty Dog, 2K Games, Square-Enix, Bandai Namco, Microsoft Studios, EA Entertainment, Disney and Nickelodeon.

“Lemon Sky Studios is a phenomenal acquisition and an excellent addition to iCandy Interactive. We now have this unparalleled capability in the region, we will focus a fair bit of our newly gained superpower to make high-quality games for the metaverse, arguably the most important development for the gaming world.” says Kin W. Lau, Chairman of iCandy Interactive.

He adds, “Lemon Sky Studios’ track record in creating world-class visuals for AAA games is highly regarded in the industry. To merge our expertise with a studio like Lemon Sky is truly phenomenal, and we cannot wait to see the outcome of integrating our teams,”

“Collaborative partnerships in the creative industry are pertinent to keeping things fresh and innovative. We are positive that this merger will encourage creative working methods and bring about new ideas. We are extremely excited about the possibilities that lie ahead,” said Cheng-Fei Wong, CEO of Lemon Sky Studios.

The acquisition will be at a valuation of MYR135 million (A$44.5 million, US$32.4 million), to be fulfilled together with cash and newly issued iCandy shares.

Concurrent with the acquisition, iCandy has also announced that it has raised A$40 million (US$29.1 million) from institutional investors via a placement that is heavily oversubscribed.

Leading iCandy’s latest fundraising round is another gaming heavy-weight, Animoca Brands, iCandy’s cornerstone investor. Animoca is a global leader in gamification technology and blockchain gaming with an extensive portfolio of over 100 investments in NFT-related companies and decentralised projects contributing to building the open metaverse. They raised more than US$200 million in 2021 and is currently valued by investors at US$2.2 billion. Separately, The Sandbox – Animoca’s subsidiary raised US$93 million recently, in a round led by Softbank Vision Fund 2.

The global video game industry is estimated to be worth A$214.33 billion (US$155.95 billion) in 2020**. With the APAC region leading the industry at 49% of the worldwide market, there is a clear pathway for growth with enormous upside potential expansion.

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Asia

Macau Government Extends Lottery Concession of Macau Slot Until 5 June 2026

Published

on

macau-government-extends-lottery-concession-of-macau-slot-until-5-june-2026
Reading Time: < 1 minute

 

The Macau government has extended the lottery concession of Macau Slot Co Ltd for one year until 5 June 2026.

The concession renewal was published in the official gazette on Wednesday. Further extensions may be granted, subject to mutual agreement between the Macau government and Macau Slot.

As part of the renewal terms, Macau Slot is required to gradually reduce its number of non-resident employees and actively collaborate with the government to recruit and retain local talent.

Earlier this month, the government held a meeting with Macau Slot representatives to discuss the extension. According to the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ), the city’s industry regulator, Macau Slot committed to cutting 35% of its non-local, non-skilled workforce—equivalent to 26 positions—by the first quarter of 2026. The company also pledged to make further reductions to its foreign labour quota in the future. Currently, non-local staff account for 15% of the total workforce at Macau Slot.

“Over the past year, despite fluctuations in the macroeconomic environment and slower economic recovery in neighbouring regions, the local economy has remained relatively stable under the guidance of the Macau SAR government’s policies,” Macau Slot said in a statement.

“Looking ahead, we are committed to further diversifying our sports betting products to meet customer demand, while upgrading our information technology infrastructure to stay current and deliver more comprehensive sports betting services.”

The post Macau Government Extends Lottery Concession of Macau Slot Until 5 June 2026 appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

Continue Reading

Asia

QTech Games strengthens its elite suite with Bigpot Gaming

Published

on

qtech-games-strengthens-its-elite-suite-with-bigpot-gaming
Reading Time: 2 minutes

 

Emerging-markets leader expands its all-encompassing library with exciting new slots portfolio

QTech Games, the leading game aggregator for all emerging markets, has signed its latest provider partnership with Bigpot Gaming, enabling its platform customers to access the supplier’s innovative and multi-faceted slots catalogue.

Bigpot Gaming, an exciting challenger studio in the igaming arena, draws from a deep well of slot games – including titles such as Quests Of Olympus, Mega Sevens, Golden Kitty and Journey To The Abyss – which form an eclectic range of popular titles.

Bigpot Gaming specialises in developing high-quality online slot and table games which are RNG-certified and fully compliant with international regulatory standards. To underscore this commitment to fairness, Bigpot Gaming is certified by four recognised test laboratories in GLI, BMM, GA and iTech Labs.

The agreement also broadens Bigpot Gaming’s global scope, targeting emerging markets and creating new revenue streams. As the fastest-growing aggregator over the past few years, QTech’s platform offers the most expansive gaming portfolio around, localised for each region, retention and marketing tools, and 24/7 local-language support.

QTech Games CEO, Philip Doftvik, said: “It’s another feather in our cap to have integrated more premium content, this time from Bigpot Gaming. We will continue to raise the bar and shape a localised experience for global players. And we can’t wait to witness how these games perform across a range of untapped markets which, in many cases, represent new territory for Bigpot Gaming.”

David Shon, Global Sales Executive at Bigpot Gaming, added: “Bigpot Gaming stands out as a fast-growing rookie studio for slots games and a real revenue-driver for digital casinos, always offering players a fresh yet familiar gaming experience.

“This collaboration marks another crucial step in our company’s worldwide growth strategy, and. Bigpot Gaming is targeting the finest content aggregators to improve our visibility and influence in the sector, and QTech Games sets the gold standard for emerging markets.”

The post QTech Games strengthens its elite suite with Bigpot Gaming appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

Continue Reading

Asia

Polemos Announces Partnership with Guinevere Capital

Published

on

polemos-announces-partnership-with-guinevere-capital
Reading Time: < 1 minute

 

Polemos, a Web3 gaming infrastructure platform, has announced a strategic partnership with Guinevere Capital, a prominent esports and gaming investment firm known for its investments and advisory roles in projects such as GiantX, iTero, Perion, Skybox and various other projects across the industry. Guinevere Capital has established a strong reputation for its work across global Web2 gaming titles, including League of Legends, Valorant, Rocket League and many more. This partnership aims to leverage the combined expertise of Polemos.io and Guinevere Capital to enhance and further monetise audiences across publishers, infrastructure players, gaming companies, studios and platforms.

The collaboration will focus on integrating advanced asset management and engagement tools from Polemos.io’s Forge platform with Guinevere Capital’s extensive network and experience in both Web2 and esports ecosystems. This will create new monetisation opportunities and improve player experiences by bridging traditional gaming with blockchain-enabled innovations.

Carl Wilgenbus, CEO of Polemos.io, said: “Partnering with Guinevere Capital marks a significant milestone in our mission to expand access to gaming rewards and unlock new revenue streams for the entire gaming industry. Together, we will empower publishers and studios to better engage their audiences and capitalize on the evolving landscape of gaming and esports.”

“Polemos has built an impressive piece of infrastructure that has plugged a huge gap in the gaming sector. We look forward to working with them to commercialise this,” said Dave Harris, a partner at Guinevere Capital.

Dave’s previous experience includes investing in and operating top teams and leagues in the Riot Games and Activision Blizzard ecosystems.

Guinevere Capital’s strategic involvement will accelerate the adoption of blockchain gaming infrastructure while supporting the growth of esports and gaming communities worldwide. This alliance underscores a shared vision to drive innovation, education and monetisation in the gaming sector by combining Web2’s reach with Web3’s potential.

The post Polemos Announces Partnership with Guinevere Capital appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

Continue Reading

Trending