VANCOUVER, Nov. 8, 2018 /CNW/ - Axion Ventures Inc. ("Axion
Ventures" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: AXV; OTCQX: AXNVF)
announces that its Bangkok studio,
True Axion Interactive Ltd. ("TAI"), recently unveiled its first
game, "Invictus", at the Thailand Game Show 2018.
TAI is the Company's joint venture subsidiary with True
Corporation Public Company Limited ("True Corporation"), one of
Southeast Asia's leading
telecommunications, media enterprises, and game publishers. TAI
commenced operations in March 2017
and has grown to approximately 80, comprised of experienced game
designers, 2D & 3D artists, animators, and software
engineers.
The Thailand Game Show, Southeast
Asia's largest gaming event, was hosted by True Media
Solutions and Show No Limit and was a gathering of gamers and
industry professionals such as Tencent Games, Facebook Gaming, Disney, Marvel,
and Google Play.
TAI's display booth focused on its first project, Invictus,
which is the first AAA quality mobile game made in Thailand. Invictus has enhanced high poly
graphics and is targeted for mid-core to hard-core players. Core
gameplay is PvP (player-versus-player) sword and other weapon
fighting controlled by the application of card decks. The current
50+ person Invictus team believes this uniqueness provides an
opportunity to play a fighting game not only by players with
superior reactionary motor skills, but also by a much more casual
player (mid-core). At the same time, the team believes it offers a
very high level of tactic variability and strategy planning during
the fight. Speaking simply, the team is creating a fighting game
where players are not required to make thousands of swipes and taps
on the screen, but where players can plan their respective fight
and choose next their move.
TAI received preliminary results from the game from
approximately 700 conference attendees who tested the game at the
show. When asked if such players would play the game after its
commercial launch, 66% responded with "yes, definitely", 20% with
"waiting to ask friends first", 12% were indifferent, and only 2%
responded with "no". Of the visitors to TAI's display booth was
even Thailand's very own Prime
Minister, Prayut Chan-o-cha.
"We are extremely proud with the True Axion team and the
progress they have made in only a short amount of time" said
Todd Bonner, CEO and Chairman of
Axion Ventures. "The studio's first product is receiving very good
feedback and the excitement and energy of the young team reminds me
of starting up Axion Games in Shanghai in 2006. It's also not too often you
have a country's Prime Minister show interest in a company's game
and progress and we are hopeful that the Thai government continues
to provide incentives and support to the Thai video game
industry".
The soft-launch of Invictus is planned for the Q1 of 2019 with
commercial launch later in Q1 or in Q2 of 2019.
Rising Fire
Despite the recent positive feedback and press from Invictus,
the Company continues to focus on Axion Games Limited's ("Axion
Games") AAA online PC game, "Rising Fire", which is currently being
disseminated in China through
Tencent Holding Limited's
("Tencent") distribution network.
Rising Fire was made commercially available on June 28th, 2018 and continues to
progress through the early stages of its strategic launch cycle
through Tencent's "WeGame" network. China hosts the largest video game market of
any country in the world and Tencent
is its' leading video game distributor. The next expected tuning
patch delivery to Tencent is
scheduled for the second half of November, whereby Axion Games
shall be specifically focusing on PvE (player versus environment)
gameplay. Upon receiving the next patch, Tencent shall collect player data and the Company
expects a report to follow a few weeks thereafter. Axion Games is
currently creating new content and optimizing Rising Fire based on
continuous feedback that has been provided by Tencent from a subset of the approximately 1.5
million players that have been able to download the game thus
far.
"Our Rising Fire team has been working relentlessly tuning
Rising Fire in response to player data collected by Tencent and is also being proactive with updates"
said Todd Bonner. "We have been
especially pleased with recent increases in player retention data
as the team continuously tunes the game and we are hopeful that
this next patch exceeds the thresholds for Tencent's next stage of
more aggressive marketing."
Related Party Loan to the Company
The Company also announces that it has entered into another loan
agreement (the "Loan") with Red Anchor Trading Corp. ("Red
Anchor"), a company engaged in the business of developing an
application known as "HotNow", whereby Red
Anchor has loaned the Company an additional US$4,917,505.78 to fund ongoing expenses. The
Loan is unsecured, non-interest bearing, and payable on demand.
Red Anchor is controlled by Mr.
Todd Bonner and his spouse, Nithinan
Boonyawattanapisut. Red Anchor is
also a portfolio company of Axion Ventures as the Company closed a
US$1.5 million investment in
Red Anchor in April 2017 representing 15% of the outstanding
voting shares of Red Anchor. The
Loan is considered a related party transaction under Multilateral
Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in
Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"), as Red Anchor is a related party of Axion Ventures,
by virtue of Mr. Bonner's role with Axion Ventures, Ms.
Boonyawattanapisut's status as a control person of Axion Ventures
and Mr. Bonner's and Ms. Boonyawattanapisut's control of
Red Anchor. Axion Ventures is
relying on exemptions from the formal valuation and minority
shareholder approval requirements pursuant to sections 5.5(b) and
5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101 on the basis that the fair market value of
the Loan does not exceed 25% of the Company's market
capitalization.
Company Loans to Axion Games
The Company also announces that it has loaned an additional
US$902,000 to Axion Games. The
principal amount of the recent loan together with the principal
amount of the loans announced in 2017 equals US$2,214,140, which includes a reduction of
principal equal to US$392,000 as a
result of the Company assuming and offsetting a loan owed by an
ex-officer to Axion Games in exchange for his shares representing a
beneficial interest of 3.21% of Axion Games. All loans bear
interest at 8% and are due demand from the Company. Axion Ventures
intends to convert the aggregate balance of the loans provided to
Axion Games into shares in Axion Games at the next rights offering
by Axion Games.
About Axion Ventures
Axion Ventures is an Investment Issuer with majority ownership
in Axion Games, an online video game development and publishing
company headquartered in Shanghai,
China as well as in True Axion Interactive Ltd., its video
game development company headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand cofounded with True
Corporation. Axion Ventures also maintains holdings in other
innovative technology companies.
www.axionventures.com
Axion Ventures Inc. is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under
the symbol (TSXV: AXV).
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services
Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX
Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this release.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking
Information
Certain statements contained in this press release may
constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to
future events or future performance. The use of any of the words
"could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected",
"estimated", "proposed" and similar expressions and statements
relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to
identify forward-looking information and are based on the Company's
current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such
future events. Such forward-looking information are subject to
risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance
or developments to differ materially from those contained in the
statements. In particular, this release contains
forward-looking information relating to: Invictus and its
launch date, Rising Fire and its tuning process and dates with
Tencent, Tencent's marketing efforts,
use of the Loan proceeds from Red
Anchor, and conversion of loans to into Axion Games
shares. Various assumptions or factors are typically applied
in drawing conclusions or making the forecasts or projections set
out in forward-looking information. Those assumptions and
factors are based on information currently available to the
Company. The forward-looking information contained in this release
is made as of the date hereof and the Company is not obligated to
update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as
required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks,
uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should
not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The
foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking
information contained herein.
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SOURCE Axion Ventures Inc.