GigaMedia begins social casino push
Former Everest Gaming part-owner looking at potential acquisitions in segment which it says has "great growth prospects"
GigaMedia, the former part-owner of Everest Gaming, is pursuing potential acquisitions and strategic partnerships as it looks to gain a foothold in the social casino space.
The Taiwan-based firm, which last year sold its 33% stake in egaming brand Everest to the Betclic Everest Group, is looking at mobile social opportunities in the Asian market in particular as it looks to maximise returns from its FunTown brand.
Describing social casino as one of the “fastest growing” and “most profitable” segments of egaming, CEO Collin Hwang pledged to leverage the company’s expertise to develop mobile and tablet-specific titles.
The CEO said in a statement social casino games generate average revenues per user (ARPU) of “nearly double” the social gaming space in general. He added: “[The] increased sector focus will play a key role in driving growth of our FunTown online game operations in 2013 and beyond.”
“In sum, we are targeting the highest-spending social gamers in the world’s largest mobile games market – Asia,” Hwang said.
Hwang took over as chief executive of GigaMedia in November last year, becoming the fourth CEO in less than two years after Arthur Wang, Yichin Lee and John Stringer. The company saw gross profits halved year-on-year in last month’s first-quarter results, though Hwang said the firm was “[continuing] to systematically implement restructuring and efficiency initiatives”.