In 2017, Hong Kong movie star Nick Cheung challenged Chinese gamers to “cross me if you dare,” using a thickly-accented but catchy phrase playing on a popular line from one of his movies. That ignited a craze for “Legend of Lanyue,” the game he was endorsing. Five years later, the game’s operator ZX Inc. is once again throwing out a new challenge, this time to Hong Kong investors, with plans to float shares in the city.
ZX Inc.’s preliminary prospectus, filed at the end of last month, shows not only why the company is listing now, but also contains financial data that might give some investors cause for concern over the company’s future development.
China’s online game industry was once a goldmine that was quickly embraced by investors, fueling the meteoric rise of names like Tencent (0700.HK). But all of that has changed in the last two years. In addition to being labeled as “spiritual opium” by official media, the industry has taken a series of regulatory hits, including strict limits on playing time for minors, hitting many companies on both their top and bottom lines.