iCandy acquires Lemon Sky to build AAA games and metaverse – Wired PR Lifestyle Story
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In the latest news, iCandy Interactive (iCandy) announced that it will get 100% Lemon Sky Studios (Lemon Sky) to scale existing skills.
This will also make it the largest game development company in the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) and in Australia and SEA.
With more than 450 employees, the purchase is projected to generate revenue of less than $ 17 million ($ 12.36 million or 51.5 million) per year.
Design and development of home games
As an innovation, iCandy’s main business is in game development, game publishing and e-sports, with titles played by more than 360 million mobile players worldwide.
Lemon Sky is an CGI art and animation studio that offers outsourced services to clients such as Microsoft Studios, EA Entertainment, Disney and Nickelodeon.
In November 2020, it was announced that they were Lemon Sky and iCandy collaborating to create a new gaming company For AAA mobile games.
Desmond Lee, director of iCandy, told the Vulcan Post that the new company, called Sky Candy, is now an independent studio and is based on AAA mobile games.
Although iCandy is known for publishing mobile game titles, Desmond has told us that the acquisition of Lemon Sky will lead to an additional expansion of iCandy on the console and computer.
Previously, iCandy had not outsourced Lemon Sky’s art and animation services to its mobile games. But the team has recognized Lemon Sky’s strengths through the animation work of AAA game titles such as Overwatch 2, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, and SimCity, so this purchase speaks for itself, according to Desmond.
“Collaborative partnerships in the creative industry are great for keeping things fresh and innovative. We are confident that this merger will encourage creative working methods and bring new ideas, ”said Cheng-Fei Wong, CEO of Lemon Sky.
However, Desmond clarified that there will be no change in leadership after this acquisition, and Lemon Sky will continue with the outsourcing work.
Enter the metaverse
In addition to increasing manpower, revenue, and skills, both teams are confident that this acquisition will help encourage the group to build an extended metaverse.
You know: Metaberse is a digital reality that combines social media, online gaming, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and cryptocurrencies to allow users to interact virtually.
This will be done through the regional expansion plans of the two companies for the development of casual and AAA games in the open metaverse blockchain.
Although Desmond was not able to share any provocations about what they have in store for this to happen, he told us that some plans are already in place.
After all, the development of open metaverse is still in the conceptualization phase and leaves much room for study.
“While our current focus is expanding into a new and rapidly expanding space in the gaming community, our focus is to move beyond where opportunities present themselves beyond that,” Desmond said.
High valuation of the purchase
According to iCandy Press release, this purchase will be valued at A $ 44.5 million (US $ 32.4 million or RM135 million). It is expected to be filled with cash and new iCandy share issues.
Along with the merger, iCandy has raised $ 40 million ($ 29.1 million or $ 121.2 million) through a location that is over-subscribed from institutional investors (where demand for shares is higher than actual supply).
The financing round was directed by another gaming company that invested in metaverse, Animoca Markak, a world leader in gamification technology and blockchain games.
Animoca Brands also has a portfolio of more than 100 investments in NFT-related companies and decentralized projects that help build open metaverse, so it’s likely that we’ll soon see some interesting projects emerging from the purchase of iCandy’s Lemon Sky.
Featured Image Credit: Lemon Sky Studios
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