Interpretation of Boya Group's 2024 financial report: Synergistic growth with Web3 business

Original text: Boya's net profit last year was 880 million, and it wants to become a leading WEB3 game company: holds 3,351 Bitcoins

Author: GameLook

Influenced by domestic supervision on strong regulatory policies on chess and card games, chess and card games such as Depu have been removed from the Chinese market one after another. Some chess and card companies have moved to markets allowed by overseas policies, and some of them have even gained a lot in the Web3 field.

For example, recently, the 2024 financial report released by Boya Group, a Hong Kong chess and card game company in China, showed that the group's revenue in 2024 was 457 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.8%, and non-GAAP net profit was 885 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 645.2%. It is worth noting that most of the company's profits in 2024 come from virtual currency value-added revenue. According to the financial report of the group chairman Dai Zhikang, "the year-on-year increase (non-GAAP net profit) is mainly due to the increase in the fair value of cryptocurrencies compared with the purchase cost. If the profits brought about by the appreciation of cryptocurrencies are removed, the Group's non-GAAP net profit will increase by 14.8%."

According to the financial report of Boya Group, the company's total revenue (revenue) in 2024 was 457 million yuan, pre-tax profit was 1.04 billion yuan, and annual profit was 883 million yuan. Among them, traditional game revenue has grown slightly and steadily. Through the continuous expansion of cryptocurrencies, digital asset appreciation income has also been obtained. The fair value income of digital assets in 2024 was 860 million yuan, and the appreciation income of digital assets was about 50 million yuan.

According to the financial report, in 2024, Boya Group continued to make steady progress in the field of traditional online chess and card games, and actively made business layout in the field of Web3.

Dai Zhikang said, "Continue to focus on the research and development of online chess and card game products, and at the same time, vigorously invest in the research and development of Web3 game products and Web3-related infrastructure, and invest and incubate multiple Web3 projects (such as Web3 game R&D and operation platform MTT ESports, Web3 asset data platform RootData, Web3 asset management platform BounceBit project, and Awkening Ventures fund, UTXO fund, and Pacific Water Drop Digital Asset Fund).

In 2024, the company continued to expand its reserves of cryptocurrencies (mainly Bitcoin BTC). The group has held about 3,351 bitcoins, with an average cost of about US$58,628 per coin; it holds about 295 Ether coins, with an average cost of about US$1,661 per coin.

Regarding the next year, Dai Zhikang mentioned in his financial report, "In 2025, we will continue to maintain the steady development of traditional online game business. At the same time, we will increase efforts to develop, innovate and incubate Web3 game-related products and Web3 infrastructure, and vigorously promote the group's business development and layout in the Web3 field. In terms of game products, we will continue to enrich its content and gameplay, continuously improve its functions and infrastructure (including Web3 related infrastructure), strive to improve user experience, continue to explore game products, especially the operating model of Web3 game products, work hard to refine products and diversify operations, and focus on creating and incubating high-quality chess and card game products, competitive event products and industry-leading Web 3 game products."

The financial report also clearly stated, "The company will strictly abide by the laws and regulations of the different jurisdictions in which it operates, and is committed to creating and incubating high-quality chess and card game products and industry-leading Web 3 game products. We will forge ahead on the road to forging the century-old brand of Boya Network chess and card game, and build the company into a pure and leading Web 3 listed company."

This is the first example among listed game companies in China.

Financial report data shows that the group's online game revenue has increased due to the cryptocurrency held by the group and the group's online operation activities (such as optimizing the event process, improving the participation experience, introducing viewing functions, optimizing fairness and competitiveness, etc.). In Q4 2024, revenue was approximately RMB 140 million, a year-on-year increase of 38.3% and a month-on-month increase of 32.3%. It is mainly because cryptocurrencies have obtained the appreciation of digital assets.

In terms of operational data, the number of paid game players under Boya Group remained stable in 2024, with about 200,000, with 1.2 million daily active users, a month-on-month increase of 2.8%; monthly active users decreased by 7.9% month-on-month to 4.2 million. Due to the decrease in active users, the ARPPU of the company's Depu mobile game has increased (from 207 yuan to 231 yuan).

In terms of products, as of December 31, 2024, Boya Online operates a total of 61 traditional online game products, offering 12 language versions. In 2024, the company terminated the operation of six games in the mainland market to concentrate on expanding overseas markets and continue to increase investment in Web3.

The management mentioned in the financial report, "We focus on the research and development and innovation of game products, especially Web 3 game-related products and Web 3 infrastructure, (including but not limited to Web 3 wallets, DeFi infrastructure, etc.), and vigorously invest and incubate Web 3 projects, and actively carry out business layout in the Web 3 field."

At the same time, long-term holding and continuous expansion of Bitcoin reserves are important strategies of the group. The company is optimistic about the cryptocurrency market and the development of Bitcoin, believing that Bitcoin has long-term value. In the future, we will continue to expand our Bitcoin reserves, and it is not ruled out that we will raise funds in the secondary market through the issuance of shares and bond issuance.

Regarding the Web3 business layout, the company proposed six measures in its financial report:

Actively plan the Web3 strategy and build the company into a pure and leading Web3 listed company;

It has long-term holdings and continuous expansion of cryptocurrency reserves, and it is not ruled out that financing is carried out in the secondary market through the allocation of shares and bond issuance;

Continue to carry out research and development, project investment and incubation of Web3 projects, increase the development of Web3 game-related products and infrastructure, find appropriate Web3-related projects, invest and incubate, and strive to promote the group's business development and layout in the Web3 field;

Maintain the steady development of traditional online game business, continue to improve the construction of game functions and infrastructure, continue to enrich the content and gameplay of game products, focus on user experience, and provide better services;

Continue to deeply explore and innovate the operating models of game products at home and abroad;

Continue to research and develop new competitive game products, continuously improve and consolidate player loyalty, and strive to create an industry-leading Web3 game products and a century-old brand that forged Boya Network's weird games.