LILITH Games (莉莉丝) founders enter Hurun billionaires list as flagship titles hit growth ceiling

The milestone and the wrinkle

LILITH Games (莉莉丝) co‑founders Wang Xinwen, Zhang Hao and Yuan Shuai have joined the 2026 Hurun Global Rich List after more than a decade building one of China’s most successful game exporters. Wang is listed with 125亿元, while Zhang and Yuan each hold 75亿元, and Tianyancha data show their final beneficiary stakes in Shanghai Lilith Technology at roughly 36.69%, 25.71% and 25.71% respectively. It has been reported that the trio’s fortunes are rooted in a string of global hits — most notably Rise of Kingdoms (万国觉醒) and AFK Arena (剑与远征) — that turned a Nanjing University start‑up into a rooftop name in Shanghai’s game scene.

From Tencent alumni to global hits

The founders all started at Tencent (腾讯) and left in 2013 to found Lilith in Shanghai with a stated mission to “self‑develop, self‑publish, and go global.” Their playbook worked. Rise of Kingdoms and AFK Arena each set overseas benchmarks for Chinese strategy and idle RPGs: projects that posted blockbuster revenues and kept the company high on Sensor Tower’s revenue lists. By 2024 Lilith ranked among China’s top five mobile game publishers globally — behind Tencent, NetEase, miHoYo (米哈游) and others — and the studio expanded to more than 2,300 staff across Singapore, Japan, Korea and the U.S.

Trouble sustaining momentum

But growth has not been linear. It has been reported that Lilith’s legacy franchises are facing a plateau: several follow‑ups and newer titles have failed to replicate the breakout success of the early hits. Sensor Tower’s 2025 publisher revenue ranking shows Lilith slipping from No.5 to No.11, overtaken by a crop of rivals including Lemon (柠檬微趣), Florere Game and 37Games (三七互娱). Can a company that built its brand on a few global blockbusters continually recreate that magic? The question now cuts to product strategy, user retention and how well sequels and overseas launches perform in increasingly crowded markets.

Signals from outside and inside China

High‑profile moments have kept Lilith in the spotlight — it has been reported that Apple CEO Tim Cook visited the studio last year, and Lilith’s lavish 2026 company gifts made headlines domestically — but these do not remove structural pressures. Domestic regulation around game approvals remains a factor: China’s National Press and Publication Administration issued 146 new licenses in February 2026, and Lilith’s new title TATA Adventure (塔塔冒险队) was among them. Geopolitically, Chinese game companies still depend heavily on overseas revenue even as U.S.–China tensions reshape platform policies and distribution partnerships; Cook’s visits underscore that major Western tech firms continue to engage with China’s content creators despite broader frictions. For Lilith, the road ahead is about turning reputation and capital into a second era of sustainable hits.