eResearch | Kuuhubb Inc. (TSXV: KUU), a Finnish mobile games company with a niche focus in developing or acquiring female-focused apps, recently announced expansion of its mobile games portfolio to include Match-3 and Casual Match-3 Esports platforms.
Kuuhubb enters the Match-3 segment with its 2nd Generation of apps as it plans to launch Dance Talent and Tiles and Tales, both created through its new & proprietary Match-3 engine, which will significantly support scaling and creating new Match-3 games.
Dance Talent will feature a dance story-line allowing players to create and accessorize dance characters that advance through puzzle levels while mastering dance styles including Salsa, Waltz, and the Charleston. Dance Talent had a soft launch November 2018 and the Company expects a commercial launch later this year.
Tiles & Tales, originally announced in May 2019, has an anticipated commercial launch in early 2020. The game is expected to be the first in the market to combine Match-3 and visual novel genres. Tiles & Tales was partially funded with a non-dilutive, Finnish government grant of approximately 1 million Euros.
The Company’s plans a 3rd generation product evolution by integrating the Match-3 concept with the currently popular “Battle Royale” style games, which typically puts up to 100 players together to compete under a set time limit until one player is left “standing”. Female players make up approximately one third of participants in Battle Royale style games, but there is not currently a Battle Royale game that caters towards females on the market.
Kuuhubb has a history of success with its 1st Generation of apps – Recolor and My Hospital – generating in excess of US$33 million since launch, with revenues for three months ended March 31, 2019 at US$2.8 million.
The majority of Kuuhubb’s revenue is from the Recolor app, which has generated additional revenue through marketing sponsorships with Lionsgate and Hasbro to create digital coloring tasks around My Little Pony: The Movie, as well as other cross-marketing collaborations with Kellogg, Ben & Jerry’s, Mattel, and Fazer. To grow its community and expand into a lower-aged demographic, the Company will release a Recolor By Numbers later this year.
Kuuhubb Game Portfolio: Recolor, Recolor By Numbers, Tiles & Tales, My Hospital, Dance Talent
Kuuhubb believes the female gaming market is a growing and lucrative segment that is under-served, and the Company plans target this segment.
The gaming industry once dominated by men is changing as the number of female players grow. According to Entertainment Software Association, in the U.S., females make up 45% of gamers at an average age of 36 years-old, and one third of them are willing to pay to play mobile games as they are in an age group generally with disposable income.
The largest female gaming category is Match-3, which consists of a 78% female player base and is expected to generate US$5 billion annually, according to Sensor Tower, FMG.
Match-3 or three-in-a-row games are not a new concept; this type of game can be originated back to games such as Tetris and Bejeweled. In Match-3 games, to progressive levels, players must shift or rotate various tiles on a grid style platform to match three tiles which are similar in color, shape, or symbol.
These types of games have evolved today with improved graphics, added game play features, and various reward systems; a popular example would be the mobile game app Candy Crush, which in two years of launch had a 93 million players.
According to Newzoo, the mobile gaming industry is expected to grow to US$180 billion by 2021, a 30.6% increase from 2018. In 2018, 50% of global gaming revenue and 76% off all app revenue was attributed to mobile gaming.
It will be interesting to see how much of the mobile gaming market the female user base captures and if Kuuhubb can disrupt the Match-3 market with its integrated innovation of a Battle Royale style game-play.
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Kuuhubb Inc. (TSXV: KUU)
- With main development teams in Helsinki, Finland and Zagreb, Croatia, Kuuhubb is a mobile games and app company that caters to the female audience, with popular games on the market including Recolor and My Hospital.
- Kuuhubb has an international team of 70 professionals and is led by co-founder and CEO Jouni Keränen with over 18 years of experience in the international gaming industry.
- Kuuhubb currently trades at C$0.44 per share with a market capitalization of C$24.3 million.
