On August 19, Archosaur Games (09990) released its interim results for 2026. During the reporting period, the company generated revenue of RMB 609 million, with integrated game publishing and operations contributing RMB 563 million, representing 92.6% of total revenue and highlighting the advantages of its research-and-operations integrated model. Gross profit for the period reached RMB 433 million, translating to a gross margin of 71.2%. In terms of costs and expenses, research and development spending totaled RMB 262 million, remaining broadly stable in scale, while sales and marketing expenses reached RMB 288 million, primarily allocated to overseas promotion of Dragon Raja: The Door to Káiser and pre-launch activities for new titles. As of June 30, 2026, the company held total cash and cash equivalents, time deposits, financial assets measured at fair value, and other equity investments of nearly RMB 2 billion, providing sufficient capital to support pipeline development and market expansion initiatives.
Looking through the interim financial report, it is evident that despite the mobile gaming industry entering a phase of intensifying competition for a finite user base, with resources increasingly concentrating on top-tier products, Archosaur Games has reinforced its operational foundation through long-term management of core titles, optimized cost structures, and improved R&D efficiency. Moving forward, the company aims to activate new growth potential by concentrating on high-opportunity specialized segments and advancing its global expansion strategy.
Core premium titles support performance with long-term operations generating steady contributions
The interim results announcement reveals that Archosaur Games has launched a total of 24 premium mobile games, supporting versions in 14 languages across multiple regions, covering the vast majority of countries and territories globally. During the first half of the year, two flagship titles, Shining Nikki and Dragon Raja: The Door to Káiser, delivered stable performance. Shining Nikki, a phenomenal hit in the female-oriented segment developed by the company's VVANNA division, has entered the top 30 on the iOS bestseller chart in China over a hundred times since its March 2023 mainland launch, including fifteen appearances in the top 10. During the third anniversary month (March 2026), paying user numbers grew year-on-year, reaching their highest level since May 2024, while average daily active users (DAU) in the first half surpassed historical averages across all prior years.
Beyond version updates, Shining Nikki has been expanding the boundaries of its IP value by integrating intangible cultural heritage elements into digital fashion, undertaking cultural relic repatriation donations and rural public welfare restoration projects, and forging diverse commercial collaborations including game crossovers and consumer product IP licensing. The strategic card game Dragon Raja: The Door to Káiser has also demonstrated significant results in long-term operations. Through continuous content updates and themed activities, the game has enriched player experiences and achieved new milestones: on the launch day of the "White Moon Shines Long" version (July 18, 2026), daily revenue and daily paying users reached new highs following the 2025 anniversary debut (September 12, 2025), while DAU and daily new user figures also hit peaks not seen since the 2024 National Day holiday period.
Beyond the strong long-term vitality of its core products, the MMORPG titles Dream World and Dragon Raja, launched in 2016 and 2019 respectively, continue to operate well. The financial report shows that as of the announcement date, two games have surpassed RMB 4 billion in cumulative global revenue, one game has generated between RMB 3 billion and RMB 4 billion, five games have achieved cumulative global revenue between RMB 1 billion and RMB 3 billion, and nine games have exceeded RMB 100 million in first-month revenue following their mainland China releases. The steady and sustained contributions from multiple classic titles validate the replicability of Archosaur Games' long-term premium strategy.
Efficient R&D resource allocation with strong market momentum for pipeline products
The extended lifecycles of Archosaur Games' titles are no coincidence, but rather the result of synergies across its long-accumulated capabilities in research and development, market positioning, and operations, forming a competitive moat that is difficult to replicate. In terms of product strategy, amid rapid shifts in genre dividends and diversifying user demands, the company employs a dual-pronged approach of deep cultivation in core genres and exploration of emerging tracks, ensuring comprehensive coverage across different user segments. Its product matrix spans mainstream gaming categories, with benchmark titles established in each genre to mitigate market risks.
As of June 30, 2026, R&D personnel accounted for approximately 80% of the workforce, maintaining overall stability. In the first half, R&D resources were prioritized on two key pipeline projects while sustaining high-frequency updates for live games: Lord of Mysteries: The Fool, a strategy card game adapted from a licensed IP, and Codename: Shen Bu Yan, an original female-oriented title built on Unreal Engine 5. The latter serves as a key vehicle for the company's technological capabilities, with the project team invited to share technical insights at the 2026 Chicago Unreal Engine Developer Conference. Built on the complete Unreal Engine 5 toolchain, the game leverages MetaHuman, Substrate materials, and the MegaLights cinematic lighting system to craft high-fidelity character performances and narrative atmospheres, supported by a tiered adaptation approach that balances PC visual quality with mobile performance for seamless cinematic rendering across devices. Since its first public reveal in April, the title has garnered global attention, surpassing 5 million global pre-registrations as of the announcement date, indicating substantial market anticipation.
Lord of Mysteries: The Fool, adapted from the globally renowned IP Lord of Mysteries, is a strategy card game that released its first promotional video in June 2026, topping pre-registration charts on both TapTap and Bilibili. As of the announcement date, pre-registrations in mainland China have exceeded 1 million. The project faithfully recreates the original world-building, builds its card system around character traits, and incorporates rich derivative content. Including these two flagship products, Archosaur Games plans to launch five distinct game titles globally between the second half of 2026 and 2028. Through its integrated research-and-operations model, the company connects development with live operations, enabling rapid responses to player feedback, iterative optimization, and the unlocking of full lifecycle value for its products—capabilities that will be embedded throughout the new title development process, addressing localization, version updates, and user operations from the outset.
Accelerated globalization building a second growth curve
Overseas markets have emerged as a new growth engine for Archosaur Games. From a regional revenue perspective, the company generated RMB 142 million from regions outside mainland China in the first half, representing 23.3% of total revenue, with a year-on-year increase of 15.9% in overseas revenue. The company has established a well-structured overseas launch pipeline combining mature products with newly released titles. Shining Nikki, as a benchmark in the female-oriented segment, was launched with multi-region, multi-language versions from the outset, with its themes and aesthetics resonating across diverse audiences and forming the existing foundation of overseas business. In the first half of 2026, Dragon Raja: The Door to Káiser entered the Japanese, Korean, and Western markets, topping Japan's iOS free charts for three consecutive days. As of the announcement date, the game has surpassed RMB 1 billion in cumulative global revenue, validating the company's ability to export IP-adapted strategy card games internationally. Several upcoming titles are planned for synchronized global releases, continuing to tap into overseas user growth.
Industry data from Gamma Data indicates that the overseas mobile gaming market has become increasingly entrenched, with new titles accounting for only 5.5% of the 2024 overseas TOP 200 chart—highlighting the high barriers to entry for new games, where deep localization and long-term operational capabilities are critical beyond content quality. The domestic market faces similar challenges, with new titles' share of the TOP 100 revenue chart declining amid rising R&D and marketing barriers. As the domestic mobile gaming market enters a phase of intensifying competition, relying on a single track alone is insufficient to unlock growth. Archosaur Games is simultaneously advancing both overseas market expansion and new genre breakthroughs to broaden its business boundaries.
In summary, during the first half of 2026, Archosaur Games delivered a steady operational performance centered on its premium product strategy, driven by technological innovation and its integrated research-and-operations model. Looking ahead, a robust pipeline of new titles and a clear global expansion roadmap will continue to inject growth momentum into the company. Over the long term, Archosaur Games is well-positioned to evolve into a gaming company with both domestic competitiveness and global influence, with substantial room for sustained growth.
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