Hoolai Games

History

In December 2008, Hoolai Games was founded by its CEO Qiao Wanli and President Jian Huang.

Hoolai Games’ earliest social games, Hoolai Hotel (胡莱旅馆) and Love Thief (偷心贼), saw a moderate degree success. Hoolai Games reportedly sold Hoolai Hotel for several million yuan to an Internet company. In 2010, the proceeds of the acquisition was used to fund a 30-person team in Beijing and the development of Hoolai Three Kingdoms (胡来三国).

In 2011, Hoolai Three Kingdoms was officially launched in China as a Web game on Tencent’s Qzone social gaming platform. After releasing the Facebook version, which among the top Facebook apps shortly after the game’s launch, Hoolai’s iOS version of Hoolai Three Kingdoms released later that year and became the Apple App Store Rewind’s 2011 #1 Grossing iOS game in China. Hoolai Games subsequently entered into a partnership with game publisher GREE, Inc., and Hoolai Three Kingdoms was released in Japan and Korea. According to an interview with Wanli in 2012, Hoolai Three Kingdoms was generating RMB 1 million per day in revenue for Hoolai Games.

With a top-performing game in the Chinese social and mobile gaming market, Jian announced in 2011 that Hoolai Games had raised $20 million in series B financing lead by venture capital firms, Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners, and Bertelsmann AG. Hoolai has since expanded its portfolio of mid-core social and mobile games to include the turn-based strategy, role-playing, and casino gaming games such as Checkmate (将军), War of Immortals (斩仙), and Hoolai Poker (胡莱德州扑克).

In 2011, Hoolai Games and some of its customers were victims of a large credit card fraud scheme, which reduced th company's profits, and resulted in some customers being charged for software they didn't download.

In 2014, Hoolai Games is partly owned by TenCent Holdings.

Hoolai Three Kingdoms

Hoolai Three Kingdoms (胡来三国) is free-to-play resource management and social war strategy game set an alternative interpretation of China’s historical three kingdoms. Players are tasked to build their own cities, train armies, and wage war against friends and other players on the battlefield.

War of Immortals

War of Immortals (斩仙) is a massively multiplayer ARPG game in China with side-scrolling gameplay. Players must one of many customizable avatars and treck War of Immortals’ fantasy world completing quests, while battling enemies in the form of NPCs and other players within an ancient Chinese storyline. Players can also raise pets that offer additional benefits (including damage) in battles.

Checkmate

Checkmate (将军) is a free-to-play World War II turn-by-turn strategy iPad game. Players can assume the role of a general commanding an Allied or Axis army from World War II, reclaiming invaded territories in Europe. As a PvP game, Checkmate supports PvE single player campaigns, however the game includes guild-style social game features, with which players can battle players from opposing factions.

Hoolai Poker

Hoolai Poker (胡莱德州扑克) is a social gambling platform. Its current primary poker game is Texas Hold’em. The game deals strictly in virtual currency, however competitive players can participate in tournament events with the chance of winning real life prizes. For casual play, Hoolai Poker offers other poker variants including Caribbean Poker and Video Poker.

WarTune

In 2014, WarTune, a standalone mobile game, accounted for about 40% of the company's mobile revenue. The game was developed in conjunction with another game company, 7th Road.

Awards & Recognition