iQiyi expands into game sector

Online video giant iQiyi aims to expand into game sector through looking for more business partners and better integrating video and game industries, the company told a forum today in Shanghai.

With partners, iQiyi has launched 5,000 games mainly based on popular Internet dramas and generated 2 billion yuan (US$294 million) income from games, mainly from mobile titles. 

“The boundary of game, online video and literature sectors have gradually disappeared. We have to grab the market opportunity of strong IPs (intellectual property) digital entertainment,” Wang Haosu, vice president of iQiyi, told an online video forum in Shanghai.

China’s game industry revenue surged over 20 percent to almost 100 billion yuan for the first time between January and June amid a booming mobile Internet development and cross-industry integration, industry officials said.

Besides iQiyi, A mobile game based on the hit TV series Game of Thrones will debut in China, developed by the Shenzhen-listed Youzu.

iQiyi now has several dozen IP and research partners on game development, which gives them 70 percent game income, a relatively high sharing portion in the industry.