ChinaJoy 2013: The majority of Chinese mobile game devs will fail, predicts LineKong CEO

There has been plenty of plain speaking at the China Digital Entertainment Congress, part of the ChinaJoy conference in Shanghai.

The most impassioned talk to-date has come from Wang Feng, founder and CEO of console and online game publisher LineKong Entertainment Technology.

The company was founded back in 2007, but when talking about the uncertainty of the transition to making mobile games, he said he was now "Mr Nothing To Lose".

It was revealing stuff coming from a CEO who's raised $30 million in investment from the likes of IDG, Northern Light and NEA, and set up seven studios as part of the company's independent game producer system.

Now, however, LineKong only has one team working on online games, with six focused purely on mobile game development.

"I'm sorry to say it but I think the majority of Chinese mobile game companies will die out, because the growth isn't enough," said Feng, talking through translator.

"Speculators should leave the industry."

Even more brutal, he said, "I have a lack of confidence in the future".

Comparing the mobile games business to someone at a gambling table, he suggested companies needed to forget about having a big hit and just enjoy the process of not losing a lot of money.

Instead, he claimed that companies needed to take a longterm view on their business, although even that might only get them the money they've invested back, perhaps not even with interest.