Bilibili invests HK$960M in X.D. Network, which runs Chinese game distribution platform TapTap; mobile games accounted for 40% of Bilibili's 2020 revenues
Rita Liao / TechCrunch :
Context & Ripple Effects
Games have been Bilibili's quiet revenue engine since long before this deal: the company filed for a $400M US IPO in 2018 on the back of fast-growing revenue from its anime-streaming audience ($400M US IPO filing), then sold strategic stakes to Tencent and Alibaba in 2018–2019 (Alibaba's 8% stake purchase) as both giants positioned around the platform's young user base. A March 2021 profile put the picture plainly: 54M daily active users, but mobile games generating 40% of 2020 revenues.
The HK$960M investment in X.D. Network moves Bilibili from making and publishing games to owning part of a distribution channel: TapTap, the store X.D. operates, takes no commission on in-app sales. That matters because store fees are the flashpoint in mobile gaming right now — months later, X.D. announced plans to expand TapTap globally as criticism of Apple's and Google's commissions builds (X.D.'s zero-commission global expansion plans).
First-order effects
- Bilibili converts cash into a stake in the operator of TapTap, pairing its game-publishing arm with a storefront that charges developers nothing on in-app purchases; X.D. Network gains a well-capitalized partner whose 40%-of-revenue games business gives TapTap a steady pipeline of titles.
Second-order effects
- Rival publishers get an incentive to route launches through TapTap over commission-charging stores, shifting negotiating leverage toward storefronts that compete on zero fees rather than shelf space.
- Apple and Google's commission model faces another data point against it: a funded Chinese platform scaling a no-cut store internationally just as developer criticism of app-store fees intensifies.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, Chinese content platforms consolidate around owning both the games and the channel that sells them, structurally reducing reliance on third-party app stores and exporting the zero-commission challenge to Western markets as TapTap goes global.
The trend: Chinese video and community platforms are vertically integrating into game distribution, betting that zero-commission storefronts — not just exclusive titles — decide where mobile game revenue lands.