Xfire, the social platform for PC gamers, has formed a joint venture with China Youth Goyor Technology (Beijing) Co. Ltd. that will make its service available to a market of 400 million gamers. This deal demonstrates the new strategy for expansion Xfire is implementing under its recently appointed CEO Malcolm CasSelle.
The partners said Xfire will be the first company to support in-game chat for customers using Chinese characters. Xfire enables gamers to share conversations, videos and pictures among friends, like other social platforms, but this one lets them do so from within the hardcore games that thrive on PCs.
China Youth Goyor Technology provides services and organizes activities for the Communist Youth League (CYL) Internet and Video Center, which operates Youth.cn, the only website that both serves and provides guidance to young Internet users in China.
The CYL is organized under the auspices of the People’s Republic of China and has a membership of more than 83 million people between the ages of 14 and 28.
“Without question, there is a huge opportunity for Xfire in China and this partnership with CYL will be essential to our success there and in other key Asian markets,” said CasSelle. “I am excited for the opportunity to bring Xfire’s services to millions of Chinese gamers through this joint venture with CYL. Our new product roadmap will make a huge impact on core gamers worldwide, including the China market.”
CasSelle previously served as founder at NetNoir and PCCW, a Hong Kong-based provider of telecommunications services. He also was a key executive at Groupon’s joint venture in China with Tencent.
Related links:
Xfire – official site
Xfire – press release
Youth.cn – official site
Youth.cn – English users’ version
