China's Most Popular Game, An Action Fighter, Being Released in the U.S. by Kabam

SAN FRANCISCO, May 19, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Kabam, the leader in the western world for free-to-play core games for traditional players, announced today that "Blades of Excalibur," an action-fighter that was the most popular game in all of China for 2013, is being released in the United States.

The Web-hosted game will be available next month. Before then, gamers can test-drive Blades of Excalibur on YouTube, which is hosting a working preview that provides an introduction to the game and accurately conveys its overall look and game play. The full version will have many more features than those available on the YouTube preview.

In China, Blades of Excalibur was called "Three Kingdoms Action." It was developed by Joy You, a four-year old Shanghai publishing house, and generated more than $100 million in revenues last year, outpacing all rivals.

In bringing the game outside of Asia, Kabam has preserved the game play, but transported the setting from ancient China to a mythical Medieval England, with King Arthur aided by the wizard Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table. Dragons and other monsters stalk the land.

The game is another example of Kabam showing its technology leadership, since "Blades of Excalibur" will be the first Web-based fighting game that has the speed, responsiveness and graphical sophistication of a console. In the full version of the game, players control their characters using the keyboard, and can play the game against the computer in campaign mode, or else against a particular person or team of people in multi-player mode.

Like all Kabam games, "Blades of Excalibur" is entirely free-to-play, and players can upgrade their skills or acquire new weapons by reaching game milestones. Should they so choose, they can also buy new capabilities through the game's in-app purchasing.

Kabam's work with "Blades of Excalibur" is in connection with the company's $50 million development fund, dedicated to introducing some of the world's most popular games to new audiences by rolling them out in new geographies. As part of the program, Kabam is already publishing 30 games from developers in Australia, China, Israel, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and the United States.

With a $700 million valuation and annual revenue last year of $360 million, Kabam is one of the fastest-growing companies in the gaming industry, and is frequently discussed as a potential IPO candidate. Two of its games, Kingdoms of Camelot and The Hobbit, were among the 10 top-grossing apps for the iOS market in 2013. The Hobbit was appearing on the list for the second year in a row.

About Kabam

Kabam is the leader in the western world for free-to-play games for traditional players with first and third party published titles available on mobile devices via its own dedicated channel in the Apple App Store, Google Play, Amazon Appstore, and on the Web via Facebook, Yahoo, Kabam.com and other platforms. Kabam is the fastest growing Internet media company in the San Francisco Bay Area and the 17th fastest growing company overall in the U.S., according to Deloitte LLP. Kabam's 2013 revenues exceeded $360 million, a 100 percent increase over 2012. The company is profitable and cash-flow positive, and has created four titles that have grossed more than $100M each in their life. Kabam's Kingdoms of Camelot franchise has grossed more than $250 million in less than four years, making it one of the top 10 strategy franchises of all time. In 2012, Kabam Publishing was launched to provide third-party developers access to Kabam's technology platform, distribution channels, data analytics and best practices that Kabam's in-house development teams use to bring wildly successful games to players worldwide. Kabam has approximately 800 employees around the world, with corporate headquarters in San Francisco. The company's investors include Google, Warner Brothers, MGM, Intel, Canaan Partners, Redpoint Ventures, Pinnacle Ventures and others. More information about Kabam can be found at www.kabam.com.

Contact:
Susan Yin, Rogers & Cowan, 310.854.8122, [email protected] 
Alex Munson, Rogers & Cowan, 310.854.8122, [email protected]

SOURCE Kabam