FunPlus combines its 4X strategy expertise with a big western IP in latest launch DC Dark Legion – a combination that’s performing well so far, says business development VP Bob Slinn.
When we spoke to Slinn at GDC last month, Dark Legion had just launched alongside a flurry of influencer and UA activity. The FunPlus exec also told us that it’s first of two releases that combine western IP and China-developed 4X strategy the firm is known for.
The second game, Foundation, is based on the beloved sci-fi book series (which was also recently turned into an expensive-looking Apple TV series). That is launching globally “in the next couple of months” too, he told us.
And with Chinese-made 4X strategy games LastWar and Whiteout Survival now a fixture near the very top of the top grossing charts, we asked Slinn what exactly those games are getting right that means they’re ahead of the pack right now.
“It seems simple in retrospect but moving games to portrait means you can play with one hand,” he says. “So DC Dark Legion is portrait, Foundation is portrait…that in some ways makes the game feel more accessible.”
“I also think everyone’s had to broaden the top of the funnels from a user acquisition standpoint,” he continues. “The marketing and the games themselves have reflected that widening of the target market…the early gameplay is more accessible.”
DC Dark Legion’s story, art style and more casual game modes also reflect a broadening out of the genre, says Slinn. But it’s not just in 4X strategy that Chinese developers appear to be racing ahead of the west – what’s their secret?
“There’s this agility and an ability to constantly adapt based on data, based on market signals, based on competition,” Slinn said. “They will test an idea and if the idea works, and the data says it’s a positive thing, they will continue and move very quickly.”
“I don’t think there’s a single secret element,” he continued. “It’s the combination of moving quickly, being data driven, being adaptable, almost pragmatic – there’s less of a romantic attachment to a given idea.”
Slinn also references how long DC Dark Legion spent in soft launch – Appmagic says it first registered downloads back in September 2023 – and how many iterations the game went through before going global in March. Sometimes FunPlus will have released a game in 20 or 30 different markets before it considers a title to have seen a ‘hard’ launch, he notes.
FunPlus’ development teams are also not shy about reusuing the guts of existing, tried and tested games. 2022 launches Misty Continent: Curse Island and Stormshot are each effectively remixed versions of Guns of Glory, with the latter game in particular having turned out to be “quite a big hit”, he says.
Slinn is also super clear on how important UA is to FunPlus, and says it is increasingly wary of pushing out deceptive or inappropriate ad creatives, especially now, with Dark Legion, it is playing with DC characters like Batman and Superman.
“These are ultimately super competitive sectors and performance marketing is as a critical component of that so we’re very focused on how the ads perform and the quality of the players we can can acquire,” he told us.
“Clearly the quality of the players matters, and the perception around the game matters. So, we definitely try to balance the idea of being innovative and creative and in some cases, pushing boundaries, but also cognisant of the fact that you reflect the brand of both the game and FunPlus.”
