Game for a challenge

London has become a staging post for Chinese company in Europe.

The Chinese mobile games company Rekoo has opened an office in London, aiming to market its wares in Europe and introduce games from the continent to developers in China.

According to a statement from Rekoo, well-known for games such as Finding Something and Sunshine Winery, the company wants to invest heavily to increase its market share in Europe, and expects to generate about 60 percent of its revenue in Britain.

"The UK is strong in creative industries and has a large games market, and so has China," said Pan Jinyu, vice-president of Rekoo.

"Therefore, we want to connect the games market of both countries."

Rekoo was founded about five years ago and headquarters in Beijing. According to the statement, it now has 20 million active daily personal computer games customers and 10 million daily smartphone games customers. It has more than 500 employees across Asia and is one of the first Chinese companies to provide games on Facebook.

The company is the first from the Chinese mainland to set up an office in a technology center in East London that the British government has dubbed Tech City. Other companies that have set up operations there include Cisco, Facebook, Google and Intel.

Since Tech City opened in 2010, the number of digital companies in East London has grown from 200 to more than 1,500. London hosts 24,000 IT companies, which is the highest number in Europe, the local government says, its nearest rival being Paris with 15,500.

Rekoo's UK investment was announced in mid-October at a time when London Mayor Boris Johnson and the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne were visiting China to attract Chinese investment.

Pan said the UK's inward investment agency UK Trade and Investment arranged a brief meeting for her with the British Prime Minister David Cameron.

"I think he is sincere in helping London's Tech City grow, and allowing it to become the UK's Silicon Valley. He is willing to put in effort and time to make this possible," she said.

Pan said Rekoo will bring to Europe many Chinese games suitable for Europeans, particularly those focusing on strategic thinking. Many of the games will have references to European history, such as Greek mythology.

At the same time, it will work with European mobile game developers in trying to introduce European games to China. Rekoo is well placed to introduce European games to China because it understands the Chinese gaming distribution channel very well, Pan said.

An important step involving distribution in China is making Chinese customers pay for the games. There are many ways of generating revenue in the Chinese games industry, she said, including asking customers to pay for certain tools needed to play or inserting advertisements for other games into already popular games.

Charging customers in remote rural towns may be difficult, so games companies typically link up with mobile companies to allow customers to pay through text messages, Pan said.

This is different from the West, where mobile game payment is typically made by the mobile account linked to the user's credit card.

Pan said distribution channels in China's games market is also much more diverse than Europe, so Rekoo's help will be crucial for some European games developers' entry into China.

"In the UK, for example, most games are distributed through two platforms, Apple Store and Google Play. But in China there could be more than 1,000 different distribution channels, so local knowledge is crucial to succeed in this market," she said.

Pan said an advantage Rekoo has over other Chinese games companies is its international background and experience of the company and that of its management.

Many employees have studied or worked overseas, so they can better understand how to do business with Western businessmen.

The company has expanded into Japan and the US in recent years with the support of venture capital, and Pan said this has taught Rekoo more about operating in overseas markets. But over the years Rekoo increasingly focused its investment within China as demand boomed and more consumers adopted better paying habits.

The company also expanded into the US with the help of venture capital, forming a partnership with Facebook and offering its games on this social network site.

Contact the writers through cecily.liu@chinadaily.com.cn and zhangchunyan@chinadaily.com.cn