FunPlus

FunPlus is a video game developer and publisher headquartered in Switzerland, with operations in China, Singapore and Spain. The company has developed the following mobile games: State of Survival, Frost & Flame: King of Avalon, Guns of Glory: Lost Island, Stormshot: Isle of Adventure and Sea of Conquest: Pirate War.

The company's CEO is Andy Zhong.

History
FunPlus was founded in 2010 by Andy Zhong and Yitao Guan in Silicon Valley as Halfquest, focusing on web game development in Silicon Valley and Beijing. In Beijing, the company created DianDian Interactive game studio, which became the casual games division of the company. In October 2010, the company launched its first web game, Family Farm, on German social network VZ. In June 2011, the game appeared on Facebook.

In 2012, the company was relocated to Beijing and rebranded as FunPlus in 2012. In the same year, FunPlus launched it first mobile game, Family Farm Seaside, as well as a second web game, Royal Story.

A third web game, Happy Acres, launched in 2014. In the same year, the company established a mobile strategy game studio, KingsGroup, in Beijing.

KingsGroup launched its first mobile strategy game, King of Avalon, in 2016. In the same year, FunPlus sold its DianDian Interactive studio to the Century Group, a listed company on the Shenzhen stock exchange, for $1 billion, after which the game studio was renamed Century Game. After the sale of DianDian studio, FunPlus focused on investing in other game studios globally as well as developing strategy games, e-sports, live-streaming and game publishing platforms.

In 2017, KingsGroup launched its second mobile strategy game, Guns of Glory. In 2018, FunPlus started to grow its international studio presence with a new casual studio in Beijing called Puzala, as well as a new mobile development studios in Shanghai.

In 2019, KingsGroup launched and self-published mobile strategy game State of Survival. The game has since achieved more than 100 million downloads. FunPlus continued its international growth with new studios and a publishing office in Barcelona.

In 2020, the company's Guangzhou studio was opened. In December 2020, FunPlus opened its corporate global headquarters in Switzerland.

In 2021, FunPlus collaborated with AMC to introduce The Walking Dead to State of Survival.

In April 2021, Imagendary Studios was acquired by FunPlus. In December 2021, the company collaborated with DC to introduce the Joker to State of Survival.

In January 2022, FunPlus launched the match-3 RPG Call of Antia. In March 2022, FunPlus announced a partnership with Orlando Bloom to bring his character to mobile strategy title, King of Avalon.

In January 2023, FunPlus expanded its publishing operations in Barcelona to game development, focused on hybrid-casual games. In July 2023, FunPlus announced DC: Dark Legion a new strategy video game set in DC universe currently in development. In August 2023, Imagendary Studios was "deeply restructured" and laid off a majority of its employees. Studio head Ryan Pollreisz and other lead staff members left the company in the weeks prior. In October 2023, FunPlus announced a partnership with Capcom to bring Resident Evil characters to mobile strategy title, State of Survival.

In January 2024, FunPlus launched the strategy game Sea of Conquest: Pirate War, giving players a triple-A gameplay experience on mobile.

Esports
FunPlus has an esports division named FunPlus Esports that sponsors several esports teams and leagues around the world. In 2017, FunPlus Esports founded FunPlus Phoenix, a professional esports organization with a League of Legends team competing in China's top league (the LPL), and operates the Pacific Championship Series. During its run from mid-2018 to 2019, the League of Legends SEA Tour was operated by FunPlus Esports.

In 2018 FunPlus Esports, in partnership with Chinese online game developer NetEase, launched the world's first global battle royale pro league, "Rules of Survival Global Series".

In 2019, FunPlus Phoenix won the League Of Legends World Championship in a 3-0 victory over G2 Esports.

In August 2021, FunPlus Phoenix’s mid laner Doinb earned the League of Legends Pro League Most Valuable Player award for the 2021 summer split.

In 2022, FunPlus Phoenix Wins the Chinese Wild Rift League.

Ventures
In 2012, FunPlus received funding in the amount of $13 million in the Series A round from several Silicon Valley investors. In the Series B the company’s total funding raised was $87 million. Among other ventures, the investment went to the development of the DianDian Interactive game studio.

In 2014, FunPlus raised $74 million in a series B funding round led by Orchid Asia Group, GSR Ventures, and Steamboat Ventures.

Since 2014, the company has invested in other game studios and game-related projects globally.

In 2016, the company started a $50 million fund to invest in game startups. The first investment that FunPlus made was in Sirvo Studios.

In July 2016, FunPlus invested an undisclosed amount to Singaporean mobile game developer XII Braves.

In June 2021, FunPlus became one of the investors in seed funding for Drop Fake, which raised $9 million. In July 2021, FunPlus led a series B financing round for Singularity 6. The studio has raised $30 million. In the same year, FunPlus participated in the seed funding round for Gardens Studio, in which it raised $4.5 million.

In 2022, FunPlus invested in Conchship Games with a 25% stake.