Gaoling beteiligt sich an der Beteiligung. Eine kleine Karte lockt mehrere Hundert Millionen Yuan an Finanzierungen an. Kann "Flash Soul" die Kartenspielbranche mit Spiel-IPs neu gestalten?
A small card triggers financing in the hundreds of millions range.
On August 11, the culture and technology company Shanghai Zhenyouqu Culture Technology Co., Ltd. announced its culture and creativity product brand "ShiningSoul" (hereinafter simply "ShiningSoul"), stating that it has completed the first round of financing worth hundreds of millions of yuan. Hillhouse Capital led the investment, followed by GaoRong Capital and Cathay Capital. Light Source Capital served as the exclusive financial advisor.
According to public information, ShiningSoul was jointly founded by Yao Shuobin, the chairman of Yaoji Technology, and Sheng Chuan, an experienced professional in the card scene. Sheng Chuan serves as the CEO of the company. The company was registered in March 2023, and the ShiningSoul brand was first made public at the end of November of the same year.
Domestically, the card scene, which caters to the preferences of the younger generation and the economy of derivatives such as "Gucards", is experiencing a golden age. According to a study by Great Wall Securities, the market volume of entertainment toys reached 101.8 billion yuan in 2024 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 15.8% from 2024 to 2029. Collectible cards are one of the most important niche market segments in the Chinese entertainment toy industry. The market volume of this segment grew at a compound annual growth rate of 56.6% from 2019 to 2024.
Although ShiningSoul was not among the first in the market, it has a clear positioning. Judging from the current card products, ShiningSoul focuses on game IPs (commercially valuable creative content or brands). The question is, will players pay for the cards, and can the game IPs establish the TCG (Trading Card Game) sector?
ShiningSoul's cards intervene in game IPs
The fact that ShiningSoul has launched a series of card collections in cooperation with important IPs such as the British Library, "Girls' Frontline: Neural Cloud", and "Identity V" since its establishment shows that it was well - prepared. This also shows the confidence of the experienced core team in this new brand in the card scene.
Both founders of ShiningSoul are "veterans" in the "card scene".
One of the founders of ShiningSoul, Yao Shuobin, is currently the chairman of Yaoji Technology. Yaoji Technology was originally a leader in the playing card industry and also started developing collectible cards such as football player cards in 2022. The other founder, Sheng Chuan, has been active in the card scene for many years.
The young but experienced ShiningSoul quickly captured the market with the card collection "Carved in Time" from NetEase's asymmetrical battle game "Identity V".
Whether the cards sell well depends on the one hand on the IP effect, and on the other hand, the quality of the physical cards is also a decisive factor for the buyer's decision.
A card collector told a reporter from "Daily Economic News" that when selecting such products, she first checks the IP. Whether she actually buys depends on whether the cards are well - processed, whether the pictures are newly drawn, and what the quality and appearance of the physical cards are.
Image source: ShiningSoul's official Weibo
ShiningSoul's "Identity V" cards have hit the taste of players. The first edition in the online store was sold out 26 days after its release. In addition, after this success, ShiningSoul has also frequently participated in events around "Identity V". The "Carved in Time" collection from the cooperation between "Identity V" and ShiningSoul is already in the "basic edition, third edition", and this is already the fifth card collection from the cooperation between the two parties.
According to investors, the cards of "Identity V", "Genshin Impact - Genius Invokation TCG", and "Back to the Future: 1999" have triggered a phenomenon and made the company grow exponentially from 2024 to 2025.
Zhang Yi, the CEO and chief analyst of iiMedia Research, said in an interview with a reporter from "Daily Economic News" that players are willing to pay for the cards. "The game has already highly involved the players and given them a feeling of interaction and sociality. There is a deep emotional bond between the game IP and the players. The cards, as a physical extension of the game, concretize the game characters and elements, which is why players are willing to buy."
Currently, ShiningSoul has already developed physical cards with several well - known games such as "League of Legends", "Identity V", "Onmyoji", "Genshin Impact", "Back to the Future: 1999", and "Girls' Frontline: Neural Cloud".
Pan Helin, a well - known economist and a member of the expert panel for information technology and telecommunications of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said in a WeChat interview: "Card collecting has always been very successful among students. Since today's students have more pocket money and can buy more, the TCG game is a popular market segment. The core of this segment is the IP. Whoever has the popular IPs has high investment value. The sustainability of the IP's popularity is also highly regarded."
After the financing, ShiningSoul will, as CEO Sheng Chuan said, accelerate its strategy. The company will invest more resources to establish long - term and in - depth partnerships with world - leading IPs. At the same time, it will build a global network, accelerate its overseas team, and establish a local operation mode to establish direct sales or close partnerships in major markets such as North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia.
Can the competitive potential of the cards open up a larger market?
The fact that ShiningSoul has launched a series of card collections in cooperation with important IPs such as the British Library, "Girls' Frontline: Neural Cloud", and "Identity V" since its establishment shows that it was well - prepared. This also shows the confidence of the experienced core team in this new brand in the card scene.
The popularity and controversies around the card scene are well - known. Last year, students were so crazy about the "My Little Pony" cards in livestreams and in person that it became a social topic.
In the first half of this year, Card Game, the market leader in the card scene, updated its prospectus after a year and applied for a listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange again. According to the updated prospectus data, Card Game achieved impressive growth rates in 2024. The revenue increased by 277.8% and the adjusted net profit by 378.16%.
As one of the important cooperation partners for the derivatives of "Ne Zha 2", Card Game also benefited from the popularity of the movie. The first 4.5 million card packs of the "Ne Zha 2" cards, which were launched in cooperation with the film producer, were sold out in a short time.
Behind these phenomena, we can see that the cards, as relatively inexpensive and affordable derivatives, can quickly respond to demand and appeal to a wide audience. In addition, some TV shows and movies also start to launch cards as derivatives.
It is worth noting that card companies are increasingly focusing on avoiding the negative impacts of collectors' mentality and emphasizing the competitive quality of trading cards. In card games, players have to buy expansion packs to get the cards they need. Each card plays a different role in duels, and players have to develop strategies and assemble card decks.
On August 1, ShiningSoul, in cooperation with Riot Games in China, launched "Runeterra: League of Legends TCG" (hereinafter "Runeterra"). On the first day of its release, "Runeterra" was presented at ChinaJoy in Shanghai. At the noisy fair, many card collectors sat at the tables and played against each other.
Image source: Official Weibo of Runeterra
Card Game also has competitions such as "Three Kingdoms Battle" and "Hero Battle Card Game Cup". According to the data released in 2024, Card Game has organized more than 3,000 tournaments in more than 100 cities in China since 2019, with more than 200,000 players participating. This makes it one of the largest TCG competitions in China.
According to Zhang Yi, the competitive principle is a feature of most games. The cards bring the competitive principle from the virtual world to the real world. Formats such as assembling card decks and participating in online and offline competitions emerge. From a social perspective, the game brings a large number of players together. The cards, as an extension of the game, are an important means for players to interact with each other. Through the exchange, collection, and sharing of cards, a unique social community is formed, which can attract more people.
The TCG card market, which combines collection, competition, and sociality, has enormous potential and therefore also attracts capital. In the long run, card companies need to balance the short - term dynamics and the long - term sustainability of their business models to be successful.
This article is from the WeChat account "Consumption Story", author: Li Yutong, published by 36Kr with permission.