Weibo eyes revenue lift from 10 new games

Sina's microblogging unit Weibo said yesterday that it will launch at least 10 new games on its mobile platform by the end of this year as it steps up efforts to boost revenue after its initial public offering earlier this year.

Weibo also hopes to boost user activity by tapping the mobile Internet to catch up with Tencent and Alibaba. Baidu, Qihoo360 and other Internet companies have also launched their mobile gaming platform to drive income on smartphone devices.

"Online gaming is the most profitable business and Weibo cannot turn a blind eye to it," said Gong Wenxiang, an independent e-commerce commentator and market watcher.

Independent vendors can also leverage Weibo users' relationship and boost revenue from online transactions, he added.

Weibo now has about 600 million users, and 75 percent of them log on through mobile devices each day on average.

Weibo will also launch an open platform to encourage external game developers to leverage relationship of the company's users and its payment system to offer other functions besides focusing on developing games.