Animoca Brands revenue climbs as AI cuts costs by 12%

Animoca Brands reported $314 million in bookings for 2024, marking a 12% year-over-year increase.

Bookings is a term commonly used in the gaming sector to represent the sum of revenue and deferred revenue. It includes all payments received and potential sales based on contracts not yet fulfilled.

According to Animoca Brands, its Digital Asset Advisory (DAA) business accounted for $165 million in bookings in 2024, a 116% increase over the previous year. The company’s subsidiaries and incubated projects generated $110 million in bookings, while its investment activities contributed $39 million.

In total, the company recorded $314 million in bookings for 2024, a 12% increase compared to 2023, when the company reported $280 million.

Related: Standard Chartered, Animoca Brands, HKT to launch HKD stablecoin

Animoca Brands expects continued growth due to crypto-friendly US

Animoca Brands co-founder and executive chairman Yat Siu told Cointelegraph that the bookings’ growth was due to their ongoing innovation efforts.

While the company derives substantial revenue from traditional operations, Siu said it had continued to expand in new growth areas, including advisory services, real-world asset (RWA) projects and a stablecoin initiative with Standard Chartered and Hong Kong Telecommunications.

Siu said the company expects continued growth through 2025, driven in part by a shifting political climate in the United States. While he acknowledged concerns such as potential economic risks, including tariffs introduced by President Donald Trump, he emphasized the importance of looking at market trends in a longer-term context.

Among its businesses, the DAA showed the biggest growth. Siu described the DAA as a “practical demonstration of the benefits and power of Web3’s shared network effect.”

He said the company launched the advisory business after recognizing how its expertise could support portfolio companies. The increase in bookings, he said, highlights the success and synergy of this strategy.

Optimization and AI reduced expenses by 12%

In the report, Animoca Brands also noted that it had reduced its operating expenses from $246 million in 2023 to $217 million in 2024, a 12% decrease. The company said this was due to optimization initiatives that started in the second half of 2023 and new artificial intelligence tools.

Siu told Cointelegraph that the optimization was prompted by the shifting dynamics of crypto and global markets. He said:

“In 2024, we placed less emphasis on the US market, owing to various regulatory struggles experienced by other companies, and we also became more focused on providing support to the companies in our portfolio.”

Siu told Cointelegraph that the company uses artificial intelligence in various applications. This includes investment decisions, game development and cost optimization. “We are even training AI agents using the experience and skillsets that we have accumulated in-house,” Siu added.