Chinese online card and board game developer Ourgame International Holdings Limited says it expects its growing poker portfolio – which includes the World Poker Tour (WPT) – to drive much of its future business following a disappointing 1Q17 which saw revenue fall 38.5% year-on-year.
In a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Monday, Ourgame reported revenue of RMB119.6 million for the first three months of the year, down from RMB194.6 million 12 months earlier, with profit attributable to equity holders of the company slumping by over 300% from a profit of RMB21.2 million in 1Q16 to a loss of RMB44.7 million.
The Group attributed much of its decline to increased competition specifically targeting Ourgame’s audience in mainland China via apps that provide online game rooms.
“Some of the agents of these apps have also been actively targeting our user base which caused a higher than expected level of user churn,” it said, pointing to a 39.3% decline in revenues on the mainland, from RMB163.8 million in 1Q16 to RMB99.5 million in 1Q17.
However, Ourgame said it expected its offline poker offerings – primarily the WPT which it purchased for US$35 million in 2015 and has since been expanding throughout China – to drive future growth.
“In the first quarter we announced WPT tournaments in China outside of Sanya for the first time, with the first WPT Beijing subsequently being held in April 2017 as part of the Ourgame Card and Board Game Carnival Beijing that has multiple events, and WPT Chengdu and the Ourgame Card and Board Game Carnival Chengdu scheduled for July 2017, with our Sanya event to follow in October,” Ourgame said.
“The three multi-month events in China now cover the entire calendar year and are supplemented by numerous highly attractive and competitive online tournaments on a weekly basis. Our expanded online and offline tournaments have already resonated with our users and we believe tournaments will continue to be a key attraction for users to come to and stay on our platform.”
Ourgame said it was also working to provide more payments system alternatives than previously, stating that it had, “accelerated work on our core products to utilize WeChat, Alipay and other third party payment systems other than mobile carrier payments. We believe a more diversified payment system will make our mobile business stronger, more stable and with a lower payment cost base.”
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