The iCandy Interactive Ltd (ASX: ICI) share price is skyrocketing today following a partnership update with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA). The iCandy share price is currently trading 22.06% higher at 8.3 cents.
What does iCandy do?
iCandy develops and publishes mobile games and digital entertainment for a global audience. The Australian company's diverse portfolio of award-winning mobile games is played by more than 350 million people. The company has won multiple awards in various coveted international events.
iCandy shares first began trading on the ASX in February 2016. The company has a market cap of $30 million.
Partnership update
The iCandy share price is storming higher after the company released an operational update on its strategic collaboration with 9Games, a unit of Alibaba Digital Media and Entertainment Business Group. iCandy reported that 9Games had applied to register iCandy's hit music game Groove Planet for the People's Republic of China (PRC).
An application is required because all online games need an International Standard Book Number (ISBN) which Chinese regulators have to approve before a product can be listed in Chinese app stores. The ISBN application in China involves several government bureaucracies. It's a stringent process that now limits the number of game titles allowed in the lucrative Chinese game market.
Groove Planet is the first among 6 games that iCandy has identified for China. Other games will be put into the regulatory application process at a later date.
So what does it mean?
China recorded more than US$36.5 billion in gaming revenue in 2019, placing it just behind the US as the world's largest gaming market. According to Marketing to China, the mobile game segment is expected to reach 496.8 million users by 2023. Thus showing the potential the partnership has to offer and why investors are so excited.
The completion of documentation reflects an exciting opportunity for the Australian small-cap, and the iCandy share price has exploded today as a result. However, it must be noted that iCandy still must receive approval by Chinese regulators in order to reach China's highly coveted app stores.
