It’s only been 63 days since gaming company iCandy Interactive (ASX:ICI) launched its latest Masketeers game, and it’s already made $1m from it.
While it is not the first time iCandy has made more than a million from a game, this feat came in record time.
The game that previously held the record (Crab War) took over eight months to hit the $1m milestone.
The company told shareholders more growth was to come from Maskateers as Christmas looms and it is developed in other languages.
iCandy says this time of year is a major uptake period for video gaming.
Of the markets iCandy is seeking to enter, China is the most important. China’s sector recorded US$36.5 billion in 2019 and is expected to reach 497 million users by 2030.
While today’s rise was a modest 14 per cent, iCandy shares have gone up over 400 per cent in the last 12 months.
iCandy Interactive (ASX:ICI) share price chart
Esports has boomed in 2020
iCandy is not alone as an esports company that has experienced a solid 2020.
VanEck estimated in September there are 2.7 billion esports players globally.
Here’s a list of all ASX esports stocks and their performance in 2020…
| Code | Company | Price | Market Cap | %Yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EM1 | Emerge Gaming Ltd | 0.093 | $84.6M | 564 |
| ESH | Esports Mogul Ltd | 0.018 | $48.9M | 57 |
| ICI | Icandy Interactive | 0.17 | $69.0M | 431 |
| KNM | Kneomedia Limited | 0.018 | $16.7M | -18 |
| MSM | MSM Corporation Intl | 0.069 | $62.1M | 475 |
| SHO | Sportshero Ltd | 0.045 | $19.0M | 36 |
| ESPO | VanEck Video Gaming | 10.80 | $39.2M | 0 |
Two other stocks are also up over 400 per cent – MSM Corporation (ASX:MSM) and Emerge Gaming (ASX:EM1).
The ASX also welcomed its first ever esports-exclusive ETF in 2020 with VanEck Vectors Video Gaming and eSports ETF (ASX:ESPO) entering the bourse in September.
While ASX esports stocks are not yet at the scale of Nintendo, Tencent and Nvidia, this ETF invests in larger global stocks such as those.
Next week the ASX will welcome a new player in PlaySide Studios (ASX:PLY). This stock will also be a small cap but nonetheless the first ASX play to develop games locally.