Over 1.4 billion yuan in generous dividends, what is the confidence behind "gaming expert" G-bits?

Ask AI · How can AI technology reshape the competitiveness of game development?

China Economic Journal Reporter Li Zhe Beijing Report

Benefiting from the good performance of games like “Legend of the Staff and Sword (Mainland Version)” and “Ask for Immortality (Mainland Version),” “Gaming Guru” G-bits (603444.SH) reversed its performance decline in 2025.

Recently, G-bits disclosed its 2025 annual report showing the company achieved operating revenue of 6.21B yuan, a year-on-year increase of 67.89%; net profit of 1.79B yuan, up 89.82%.

At the same time, G-bits continued to generously distribute dividends — planning to pay a cash dividend of 70 yuan per 10 shares, totaling 502 million yuan. When combined with previous dividends in the semi-annual and third quarters, G-bits’ total dividends in 2025 exceeded 1.41B yuan, accounting for 78.41% of the net profit attributable to the parent company in the consolidated financial statements.

Reversing the performance decline

Financial reports show that among G-bits’ main games, “Zhen Dao Mobile” ranked first with a revenue of 1.94B yuan. Launched in 2025, “Legend of the Staff and Sword (Mainland Version),” “Ask for Immortality (Mainland Version),” “Legend of the Staff and Sword (Overseas Version),” and “Come and Dig for Treasure” contributed revenues of 1.7B yuan, 824 million yuan, 792 million yuan, and 603 million yuan, respectively.

Regarding the operational strategy for subsequent games, G-bits Chairman and General Manager Lu Haoyan stated that when profitability is good, they will actively explore the market; if the product is already stable, they will maintain steady operation; if the product is at a loss, they will not simply stop the product but try to adjust it to reach a break-even point to sustain long-term operation.

According to China Business Journal, G-bits learned that in 2025, driven by “Legend of the Staff and Sword (Overseas Version)” and “Ask for Immortality (Overseas Version),” the company’s overseas revenue totaled 929 million yuan, an increase of 85.80% year-on-year.

Talking about expansion into overseas markets, Lu Haoyan mentioned that from a medium- to long-term perspective, G-bits’ overseas strategy remains unchanged. “The overseas market is very large; the Chinese market accounts for only about one-third of the global market, so going abroad has always been a firm direction for us. Compared to before, our performance has indeed improved somewhat, but compared to the entire industry or domestic peers, we still have a long way to go and much room for improvement.”

As for the future direction of “Legend of the Staff and Sword (Overseas Version),” Lu Haoyan said, “We will try in each country/region, with Europe, America, Japan, and South Korea as priority core markets.”

Driven by several of these games, G-bits achieved operating revenue of 6.21B yuan in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 67.89%; net profit of 1.79B yuan, up 89.82%. This ended the downward trend since 2023 and 2024. Additionally, G-bits’ net cash flow from operating activities in 2025 was 2.8B yuan, an increase of 123.91%.

Alongside the performance disclosure, G-bits also announced a dividend plan — proposing to distribute 70 yuan in cash dividends per 10 shares to all shareholders, totaling about 502 million yuan. When combined with previous dividend plans, G-bits’ total dividends in 2025 exceeded 1.41B yuan, accounting for 78.41% of the net profit attributable to the parent in the consolidated financial statements.

While new games drove revenue growth, G-bits’ selling expenses in 2025 reached 2.08B yuan, a year-on-year increase of 112.46%. Regarding this, G-bits stated that the launch of games like “Legend of the Staff and Sword (Mainland Version),” “Ask for Immortality (Mainland Version),” “Legend of the Staff and Sword (Overseas Version),” “Come and Dig for Treasure,” and “Nine Pasture Wilderness” involved significant investment.

Lu Haoyan said that although G-bits will expand its user base through paid acquisition, the core focus remains on whether the products can bring new experiences to users. “As long as the game experience is fresh and fun for users, and the supply of games is sufficient, or if the cost of acquiring users rises, it won’t cause too much impact.”

Notably, in the fourth quarter of 2025, G-bits’ operating revenue was 1.72B yuan, a decline of 12.65% compared to the third quarter, and its net profit after deducting non-recurring gains and losses decreased by 7.71%. G-bits explained that the core product “Legend of the Staff and Sword (Mainland Version)” saw a revenue decline, leading to a decrease in operating income and profit; the new game “Nine Pasture Wilderness,” launched in December 2025, involved significant initial investment and had not yet turned a profit by the end of 2025.

AI changing the “moat”

In G-bits’ 2025 financial report, AI’s impact on the gaming industry was mentioned multiple times, and the company stated it would undertake a series of experiments centered around AI. This includes integrating AI technology into planning, art, programming, testing, and other game development processes to improve efficiency and enhance gaming experience.

“AI changes a lot every month. Previously, we mainly saw AI as a tool to help increase capacity, reduce costs, and improve productivity. But now, we have a new perspective: AI can greatly accelerate prototyping and iteration in game creation, especially with the significant progress in AI programming over the past year, which makes realizing many of our ideas very fast and agile. In terms of art resources, AI also produces faster outputs, which helps us a lot during iteration testing,” Lu Haoyan said. “AI has shifted from being just a tool to a partner in co-creation. Over the past year, the biggest impact has come from AI programming, which requires us to adjust our organizational structure accordingly. How to do so is still being explored, and we will keep an eye on changes across various industries (not just gaming). In the future, with AI support, super-individuals can play a larger role — one person can be equivalent to a previous team, or even more efficient, because this efficiency is not just about capacity increase but about a leap in iteration speed.”

Based on ROI (Return on Investment) logic, game companies have previously established a series of R&D processes and mindsets, but with the increasing usability of AI, these development logics are changing.

“With AI’s help, some tasks that previously had low input-output ratios or were not feasible are now doable. When we change our mindset, the overall production efficiency will undergo a qualitative change,” Lu Haoyan said. “In the past, we had ideas but the high cost of realization led us to validate them through other means, like speculation, market research, player interviews, etc., based on ROI judgments and decisions — doing everything in the lowest-cost way before proceeding. Now, with AI programming, we can quickly realize our ideas. I might sleep or handle other matters, and just interact with AI briefly, and the task is done. This allows me to do real idea validation, which is more accurate than all the speculation, interviews, and research.”

However, Lu Haoyan believes that currently, AI’s contribution to capacity has not yet brought about a revolutionary change, but it is possible in the future. Therefore, for game companies, the focus should shift from production to design. “Currently, production is still a key competitive advantage, but as technology develops, design will become the true core competitiveness. This means the previous ‘moat’ is no longer valid.”

Editor: Dong Shuguang Review: Wu Kezhong Proofreading: Liu Jun