FunPlus

Last updated

FunPlus
Company typePrivate
Founded2010;14 years ago (2010)
Headquarters
Switzerland
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • Andy Zhong (CEO)
  • Chris Petrovic (CBO)
Products
  • State of Survival
  • King of Avalon
  • Guns of Glory
  • Stormshot
  • Sea of Conquest
  • Call of Antia
  • Z Day
  • Family Farm
  • Family Farm Seaside
  • Royal Story
  • Happy Acres
Number of employees
2,000+ [1]  (2019)
Website www.funplus.com

FunPlus is a video game developer and publisher headquartered in Switzerland, with operations in China, Singapore and Spain. [2] The company has developed the following mobile games: State of Survival, Frost & Flame: King of Avalon, Guns of Glory: Lost Island, Stormshot: Isle of Adventure and Sea of Conquest: Pirate War. [3]

Contents

The company's CEO is Andy Zhong. [4]

History

FunPlus was founded in 2010 by Andy Zhong and Yitao Guan in Silicon Valley as Halfquest, focusing on web game development in Silicon Valley and Beijing. [5] In Beijing, the company created DianDian Interactive game studio, which became the casual games division of the company. [6] In October 2010, the company launched its first web game, Family Farm, on German social network VZ. [7] In June 2011, the game appeared on Facebook.

In 2012, the company was relocated to Beijing and rebranded as FunPlus in 2012. [8] In the same year, FunPlus launched it first mobile game, Family Farm Seaside, as well as a second web game, Royal Story. [9]

A third web game, Happy Acres, launched in 2014. [10] In the same year, the company established a mobile strategy game studio, KingsGroup, in Beijing.

KingsGroup launched its first mobile strategy game, King of Avalon, in 2016. [11] In the same year, FunPlus sold its DianDian Interactive studio to the Century Group, a listed company on the Shenzhen stock exchange, for $1 billion, after which the game studio was renamed Century Game. After the sale of DianDian studio, FunPlus focused on investing in other game studios globally as well as developing strategy games, e-sports, live-streaming and game publishing platforms. [12] [13]

In 2017, KingsGroup launched its second mobile strategy game, Guns of Glory. [14] In 2018, FunPlus started to grow its international studio presence with a new casual studio in Beijing called Puzala, as well as a new mobile development studios in Shanghai. [15]

In 2019, KingsGroup launched and self-published mobile strategy game State of Survival. The game has since achieved more than 100 million downloads. [16] FunPlus continued its international growth with new studios and a publishing office in Barcelona. [17] [18]

In 2020, the company's Guangzhou studio was opened. In December 2020, FunPlus opened its corporate global headquarters in Switzerland. [19]

In 2021, FunPlus collaborated with AMC to introduce The Walking Dead to State of Survival. [20]

In April 2021, Imagendary Studios was acquired by FunPlus. [21] In December 2021, the company collaborated with DC to introduce the Joker to State of Survival. [22]

In January 2022, FunPlus launched the match-3 RPG Call of Antia. [23] In March 2022, FunPlus announced a partnership with Orlando Bloom to bring his character to mobile strategy title, King of Avalon. [24]

In January 2023, FunPlus expanded its publishing operations in Barcelona to game development, focused on hybrid-casual games . [25] In July 2023, FunPlus announced DC: Dark Legion a new strategy video game set in DC universe currently in development. [26] In August 2023, Imagendary Studios was "deeply restructured" and laid off a majority of its employees. Studio head Ryan Pollreisz and other lead staff members left the company in the weeks prior. [27] In October 2023, FunPlus announced a partnership with Capcom to bring Resident Evil characters to mobile strategy title, State of Survival. [28]

In January 2024, FunPlus launched the strategy game Sea of Conquest: Pirate War, giving players a triple-A gameplay experience on mobile. [29]

Esports

FunPlus has an esports division named FunPlus Esports that sponsors several esports teams and leagues around the world. In 2017, FunPlus Esports founded FunPlus Phoenix, a professional esports organization [30] with a League of Legends team competing in China's top league (the LPL), and operates the Pacific Championship Series. During its run from mid-2018 to 2019, the League of Legends SEA Tour was operated by FunPlus Esports. [31]

In 2018 FunPlus Esports, in partnership with Chinese online game developer NetEase, launched the world's first global battle royale pro league, "Rules of Survival Global Series". [32]

In 2019, FunPlus Phoenix won the League Of Legends World Championship in a 3-0 victory over G2 Esports. [33]

In August 2021, FunPlus Phoenix’s mid laner Doinb earned the League of Legends Pro League Most Valuable Player award for the 2021 summer split. [34]

In 2022, FunPlus Phoenix Wins the Chinese Wild Rift League. [35]

Ventures

In 2012, FunPlus received funding in the amount of $13 million in the Series A round from several Silicon Valley investors. In the Series B the company’s total funding raised was $87 million. Among other ventures, the investment went to the development of the DianDian Interactive game studio. [36]

In 2014, FunPlus raised $74 million in a series B funding round led by Orchid Asia Group, GSR Ventures, and Steamboat Ventures. [37]

Since 2014, the company has invested in other game studios and game-related projects globally.

In 2016, the company started a $50 million fund to invest in game startups. [38] The first investment that FunPlus made was in Sirvo Studios. [39] [40]

In July 2016, FunPlus invested an undisclosed amount to Singaporean mobile game developer XII Braves. [41]

In June 2021, FunPlus became one of the investors in seed funding for Drop Fake, which raised $9 million. [42] In July 2021, FunPlus led a series B financing round for Singularity 6. The studio has raised $30 million. [43] In the same year, FunPlus participated in the seed funding round for Gardens Studio, in which it raised $4.5 million. [44]

In 2022, FunPlus invested in Conchship Games with a 25% stake. [45]

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References

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  3. ↑ "FunPlus". Greater Zurich Area. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
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  5. ↑ "China's FunPlus raises a huge round of $74M to build a global gaming company". VentureBeat. 18 March 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  6. ↑ "FunPlus Group Sells Wholly-Owned Gaming Subsidiary". GlobeNewswire News Room (Press release). 19 August 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  7. ↑ Davison, Pete (6 April 2012). "Family Farm claims to be 'a better Farmville' -- but is it?" . Retrieved 19 July 2022.
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