On a Mission to Deliver Powerful Digital Media and Web 2.0 Products: Outblaze

Idea – Creativity – Innovation

The Digital media industry is an ever growing industry in which the growth room is high and yet the competition remains the same. Outblaze is one such company that made its way to the top through its hard work and amazing solutions. It is a company of innovators who are passionate about information technology. Its major mission is to deliver powerful digital media and web 2.0 products. Initially, the firm started in May 1998 in Hong Kong. Offices were set up in a cramped Wanchai building and the company begins developing web-based multilingual communication services. Outblaze Ltd. was a pioneer in cloud computing services and the first company to offer fully hosted multilingual communication services for online communities. Today, Outblaze develops and provides various digital media products and services including virtual community services, online transaction systems, web communication software, smartphone apps and games, social media applications, and more.  

Outblaze is the first company in Hong Kong and North Asia to post a PricewaterhouseCoopers Web Audit. Outblaze commissioned the audit in response to growing industry concerns about inflated traffic figures claimed by many dotcom companies. Today it is one of the most recognized and valued companies in Asia.

B2C Products and Services of the Company

Outblaze and partners develop numerous consumer products, include bestselling smartphone games and edutainment apps, computer and video game titles, and social media applications and software. Outblaze products and services, published under various subsidiary or partner brands, have reached millions of Facebook users and achieved top rankings on Apple’s App Store and Google’s Android Marketplace (search for “Dream Cortex” and “Animoca” to locate our apps).

B2B Products and Services of the Company

Outblaze collaborates with clients to create customized Web service solutions tailored to meet specific client needs, without investment in expensive software and hardware. The firm also handles all operations of the service/s, leaving clients free to focus on their core competencies. 

Outblaze Incubates Animoca

Animoca is a startup that focuses on mobile app development & publishing. Unlike most other companies at the time, Animoca recognizes the potential of the Google Android platform right from the start, investing substantially in Android development and working closely with Google. Animoca launches the “Pretty Pet Salon” game franchise, which becomes a global phenomenon with hundreds of Top 10 app store entries worldwide on both Apple iOS and Android. In November 2011, Intel Capital and IDG Accel invested in Animoca. In 2012 the app “BEN 10: Xenodrome“, produced by TurnOut Ventures (a joint venture between Outblaze and Turner Entertainment), becomes the most popular BEN 10 game for the world’s number 1 toy franchise for boys. Meanwhile, Animoca continues to produce and publish hundreds of mobile apps. Soon industry pundit PocketGamer names Animocaas one of the world’s Top 50 mobile developers.

At the Hong Kong ICT Awards 2013, Animoca takes home the Best Business Gold Award. Animoca also wins the Best Digital Entertainment Gold Award for its wildly popular female RPG Star Girl. Outblaze celebrates its 15th anniversary. The starting of the first quarter in 2015, Animoca Brands goes public on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) under the stock symbol “AB1“. The company is the first pure-play mobile game developer and publisher to list on the ASX. The Garfield games franchise reaches an aggregate 40 million downloads.

Later the same year, the Animoca Brands mobile game Doraemon Gadget Rush becomes a global hit, especially throughout Asia where it was the top downloaded iPad game in Japan, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Macau, and others. Surely this is how a company should be expanding and Outblaze is doing just that.

Behind Every Plan there is a Mastermind

Yat Siu, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Outblaze

Yat Siu is the founder and CEO of Outblaze, a digital services and solutions company specializing in gaming, cloud technology, and smartphone/tablet software development. A serial entrepreneur, Yat is also a founder and board director of mobile games publisher Animoca (www.animoca.com), which in its first year published 200 apps and accrued over 60 million players before attracting investments from Intel Capital and IDG-Accel. He is the Fonero Leader for the Asia region and head of FON operations in Hong Kong. Yat is also a board director for TurnOut Ventures, a joint venture between Turner Entertainment and Outblaze Investments.

Yat began his technology career working for Atari Germany in 1990. In 1995 he moved to Hong Kong to establish Hong Kong Cybercity/Freenation, Asia’s first free web page and email provider, later acquired by a US-based company. In 1998 he set up Outblaze, multiple award-winning companies that pioneered cloud-like multilingual white label web applications. In 2009, IBM purchased Outblaze’s messaging division and used it to open the first IBM cloud computing lab in Asia. After the asset sale, Yat successfully pivoted Outblaze to focus primarily on digital consumer entertainment.

“Outblaze works with various subsidiaries, joint ventures and partners to generate and develop exciting new concepts in digital media and entertainment.”