Kaiying Network triples in value in a year and a half, with actual controller Jin Feng joining the billionaire club

Listing | Damo Finance

Reliant on “Legend IP” to support performance, Kaiying Network (002517.SZ) is now staging a frenzy of market capitalization growth.

Since July 2024, Kaiying Network’s stock price has risen from a recent low of 8.19 yuan per share to a high of 30.50 yuan per share, an increase of over 270%. Afterwards, the stock price pulled back, and as of February 25, it closed at 23.05 yuan per share, with a total market value approaching 50 billion yuan.

The recent surge in Kaiying Network’s stock price coincides with an overall rebound in the A-share gaming sector. Since July 2024, the Soochow Securities Gaming Index has increased by over 116%. Among the top gainers in this rally are several gaming companies with blockbuster titles, such as Century Huatong (002602.SZ) with Whiteout Survival and Kingshot, G-bits (603444.SH) with Legend of the Sword, and Giant Network (002558.SZ) with Supernatural Operations.

In contrast, although Kaiying Network relies on the “Legend IP,” it has not launched any new blockbuster games in recent years. However, the company’s investments in AI have attracted market attention.

In November 2024, a 3D AI companion app called EVE went viral on social media. This product combines gaming entertainment with AI companionship and is in the same AI companionship track as leading AI companies MINIMAX’s flagship products Talkie / Xingye. The developer of EVE is a company strategically invested in by Kaiying Network.

On February 11, 2024, the newly launched AI social product Elys also went viral, and on that day, Kaiying Network’s stock price once hit the daily limit.

It is noteworthy that as Kaiying Network’s stock price recovers, the net worth of its actual controller, Jin Feng, has also soared. Currently, Jin Feng directly holds 14.99% of Kaiying Network’s shares and indirectly controls 5.26% through Shaoxing Ansheng. Based on the latest stock price, Jin Feng’s equity value exceeds 10 billion yuan.

Betting on AI

In recent years, Kaiying Network has frequently expanded its AI layout through investments. Natural Selection is one of the AI application development companies invested in by Kaiying Network.

According to Kaiying Network’s official WeChat, in March 2025, Kaiying Network completed an investment in Tyrell AI Limited, the overseas controlling entity of Natural Selection, with a stake exceeding 16%, making it the largest institutional investor outside the company’s founders and management team.

Natural Selection has two AI application products, with EVE focusing on 3D AI companionship. It has completed the second testing phase and is expected to launch in the domestic market on March 14, 2025. The second product, Elys, focuses on “AI social,” allowing users to create their own “AI avatar” by selecting tags, uploading photos, and chatting with AI, enabling social interactions.

With the development of AI technology, AI vendors are actively developing consumer-facing AI applications, with AI companionship and AI social being popular tracks.

In the AI companionship track, competitors include MINIMAX’s Talkie / Xingye, ByteDance’s Maoxiang, Tencent’s Zhumu Island, and others. Overall, the AI companionship track has strong commercialization potential. According to MINIMAX’s IPO prospectus, in the first three quarters of 2025, Talkie / Xingye’s revenue was $19 million, accounting for about 35% of the company’s total revenue. In comparison, the AI social track is still in the development stage, with Tencent recently testing a product called “Yuanbao Pai,” an AI social platform.

Besides Natural Selection, Kaiying Network has also participated in incubating an AI game engine company, Hangzhou Jiyi.

Founded in February 2025, Hangzhou Jiyi is 46.16% owned by Kaiying Network. It was established as a joint venture between Kaiying Network and BigGo Group (8220.HK). Its chairman and CEO, Tan Kai, previously led Kaiying Network’s AI large model division. According to Kaiying Network’s financial reports, Jiyi has launched an AI full-process development platform for the gaming industry called SOON, which can automatically generate game art assets and code using AI, significantly reducing game development cycles.

Kaiying Network has also made moves in AI hardware, investing in VR hardware manufacturer LeXiang Technology, which launched the AI glasses product DPVR AI Glasses. Additionally, the company introduced a healing AI toy brand, Warm Star Valley’s “Dream Journey,” featuring “smart dolls + virtual games” with functions like emotion recognition, motion interaction, and intelligent communication.

It is clear that Kaiying Network has a broad AI layout, but the applications and products mentioned above have not yet significantly boosted the company’s performance. Future commercialization prospects remain to be further observed.

“Legend” Still the Performance Pillar

For Kaiying Network, AI is a new business curve, but its current performance mainly depends on traditional gaming operations, with Legend IP-related games being a major source of revenue.

Public information shows that Legend is a game IP originating from South Korea, introduced into China by Shengda founder Chen Tianqiao in 2001. After more than 20 years of development, Legend remains one of the important IPs in the Chinese gaming market. According to iResearch data, in 2024, the market size of Legend PC, browser, and mobile games was approximately 5.27 billion yuan, 7.67 billion yuan, and 13.67 billion yuan respectively, with the core user base exceeding 50 million.

Kaiying Network is one of the domestic agents for Legend IP. Its Legend of Blue Moon browser game has accumulated over 4 billion yuan in revenue, and the mobile game King Legend has exceeded 3 billion yuan. The company also owns other Legend series mobile games such as Original Legend, Liangshan Legend, and Blue Moon Legend 2.

In addition to Legend IP, Kaiying Network has also developed several well-known IP products, including the Three Kingdoms SLG game “Three Kingdoms: The Return of the World,” real-time battle game “Gundam: Duel of Z,” and 3D action fighting game “Code: Ultraman.” However, the company has not launched highly popular blockbuster games in recent years, limiting growth in game revenue.

In the first half of 2025, Kaiying Network’s mobile game revenue was 1.883 billion yuan, down 10.14% year-on-year; web game revenue was 39 million yuan, down 38.41% year-on-year.

Amidst the decline in game business, Kaiying Network maintained its performance growth through a Legend-themed aggregation platform called “996 Legend Box.” In the first three quarters of 2025, the company’s revenue reached 4.075 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.75%; net profit attributable to shareholders was 1.583 billion yuan, up 23.70%.

The 996 Legend Box provides players with information on game server openings and offers channel services for related products. Since its launch, it has attracted multiple partners. According to announcements, since 2025, the company has signed agreements with companies such as Sanjiu Interactive, Zhangwan Games, and Tawan Games, with payments of 100 million, 150 million, and 200 million yuan respectively for dedicated zones for game display and promotion.

In the first half of 2025, the Legend Box’s information service business generated 657 million yuan in revenue, a 65.33% increase year-on-year. In the third quarter, Legend Box contributed about 570 million yuan to Kaiying Network’s revenue, with approximately 245 million yuan from brand zone entry services.