Gaming firm Rekoo opens London office

China's leading mobile gaming company Rekoo has opened a London office with a view to market its games to Europeans and bring games from European game developers to China.

Rekoo, which is famous for games such as Finding Something and Sunshine Winery, already has a presence in international markets including the US and Japan and now wants to invest heavily to increase its market share in Europe.

Pan Jinyu, vice-president of Rekoo, said the company expects to generate about 60 percent of its revenues from the UK games market. Other major European markets it wishes to focus on include France and Germany.

"The UK is strong in creative industries and it has a large gaming market - and so has China. Therefore we want to connect the gaming market of both countries," said Pan.

Founded in Beijing in 2008, Rekoo has grown over the years to have 20 million active daily personal computer game customers and 10 million daily smartphone game customers. The company has more than 500 employees across Asia and was also one of the first Chinese companies to provide games on Facebook.

Pan said Rekoo will bring to Europe many Chinese games suitable for a European audience, particularly those focusing on strategic thinking. She said many of these games will have references to European history, such as Greek mythology, which means European audiences can easily relate to them.

At the same time, Rekoo will work with European mobile game developers to bring their games to China.

She said suitable games for a Chinese audience will be those that do not involve deep thinking and are more relaxing to play. Examples of popular games fitting into this category include Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja and Candy Crush, she said.

Pan said Rekoo will play a unique role in facilitating the entry into China of European games because its team understands the Chinese gaming distribution channel very well.

She said one important step involving distribution in China is making Chinese customers pay for the games. She said there are many ways of generating revenue in the Chinese gaming industry, including asking customers to pay for certain tools needed to play the games or inserting new games' advertisements into already popular games.

In addition, charging customers in some remote rural towns in China may be difficult, so game companies typically link up with mobile companies to allow customers to pay through text messages, Pan said.

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

Pan said a big challenge for Rekoo working with game developers in the UK is assuring them about intellectual property protection in the Chinese market.

"This is one reason we wanted to have a physical presence in the UK - because we then can sign all our contracts in the UK, which are legally binding under UK law, so European companies can be assured that their IP will be protected," she said.

She said localization of practices is also important, hence the company has employed a European, Tony Hughes, as its European Union chief representative.

Rekoo's UK office is located in Tech City, an area in central and east London where many technology companies have gathered, including Cisco, Facebook, Google and Intel.

Since Tech City launched in 2010, the number of digital companies in east London has grown from 200 to more than 1,500, according to London government statistics.

Pan said the company chose to settle in Tech City because the area has a liberal atmosphere, which facilitates easy communication between different companies. Often new ideas can spark from these conversations.

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

Pan said the UK government has made her team feel very welcoming. She said the UK's inward investment agency UK Trade and Investment has facilitated a brief meeting for her with the British Prime Minister David Cameron, who has personally welcomed Rekoo's investment.

David Slater, director of international business development at London and Partners, the city's promotional agency, said he hopes Rekoo will be a role model for other Chinese creative and technology companies and encourage them to look to London as the place from which to build their global business.

"As an industry leader in mobile gaming, Rekoo recognizes the depth and breadth of talent available in London, which is a genuine leader in the game design and development field," Slater said.