Rekoo Acquires HappySNS, Now Biggest Online Gaming Developer in China

Rekoo, the Chinese social game developer, has acquired its rival HappySNS in a deal that makes it the leading single game developer in both China and Japan. Rekoo, which claims to have 20 million daily active users (DAUs) across numerous social media platforms, can now add HappySNS’ tally of 30 million gamers to make an even grander total.

Rekoo’s CEO, Liu Yong, explained that the main reason behind the deal was talent. He told Sina Tech that now was the time “to seize the market opportunity” as there’ll be a great deal of shifts, he says, in the gaming market in China this year.

The acquisition went by so quietly – noted mainly in a Weibo message posted by a senior developer at HappySNS – that it was largely missed at the end of last month. Thankfully, Inside Social Games caught it, and we find in the Chinese media that the HappySNS buy-up cost “over US$20 million,” although neither party has confirmed that figure.

As my colleague recently noted of HappySNS, it builds games for Tencent (HKG:0700), Facebook, and Chinese social network Kaixin001. It claims to have a whopping 100 million ‘installs,’ 30 million MAUs (monthly active users) and 10 million DAUs.

Rekoo, though, focuses mainly on Japan and the US, developing titles aimed at Facebook, Mixi, and DeNA’s (TYO:2432) Mobage. Liu Yong remarked that the company can generate ten- to 20-times more revenue from online gamers in those countries compared to China. And so its native land will remain its third market of focus. Liu Yong also talked of how difficult it is to acquire a rival in China, mainly due to huge resistance and concern from investors and the board of directors.

Just yesterday we reported new statistics showing that China’s entire gaming industry was worth just over $7 billion in 2011.

HappySNS game 'Fishing Paradise' on Facebook.

[Sources: InsideSocialGames.com; and Sina Tech news – article in Chinese]