Publicly traded esports company NIP Group (NASDAQ: NIPG) announced Monday that it has launched a new division dedicated to developing and publishing games. This strategic move is a change in focus from pure competitive gaming. The company said in a release Monday that its game publishing strategy will be “multifaceted, focusing on esports-oriented titles, as well as exploring opportunities in various game categories.”
The company plans to start this journey by “developing mini-games for social media platforms, mobile games, and PC games,” according to the announcement. The new division will be overseen by current NIP Group Chief Operating Officer Hang “Allen” Sui. Sui held key positions at Tencent from 2009 to 2023, working on such products as Monument Valley 2, PUBG: Battlegrounds, and Valorant. He is also a former professional Counter-Strike player who competed for the WizArds team in 2003.
Ninjas in Pyjamas Group (NIP Group) filed for an initial public offering (IPO) with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) in June, with Deutsche Bank, CICC, Tiger Brokers, and GF Securities serving as joint bookrunners on the deal. Ultimately, the NIP IPO was priced at $20.25M – earning the esports company gross proceeds of $18.83M after a $1.42M cut for the underwriters – by offering 2,250,000 American depositary shares (ADS) priced at $9 per share.
NIP Group shares began publicly trading on the NASDAQ on July 26. Since that time it has had a 52-week high of $17.76 and a 52-week low of $6.60. On Friday, it closed at $6.80. NIP Group was officially formed in January 2023, following the successful completion of an equity swap merger between Chinese esports company eStar Gaming Victory Five (ESV5) and the Sweden-based esports organization Ninjas in Pyjamas (NIP).