DigiPlus Interactive Corporation (DigiPlus), one of the fastest-growing digital entertainment companies in the Philippines, expects to grow its revenues by 10 percent to 20 percent this year on the back of strong growth projected by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR).
In a media briefing, DigiPlus President Andy Tsui said revenue growth will not be as steep as the 306 percent surge to P27.3 billion seen last year since they will now be coming from a higher base for 2024.
“PAGCOR expects (gross gaming revenues of GGR) to grow more than P60 billion. So, we may even capture 50 percent of that,” he said, noting that they have roughly a 50 percent market share.
In order to achieve this, Tsui said DigiPlus is seeking to grow its user base by five to ten million to 25 million to 30 million users this year from around 20 million at the end of 2023.
To help boost growth in the number of its users, he said DigiPlus is aiming to expand its reach in the provinces by sending out marketing teams outside of Metro Manila since most of the firm’s users are concentrated in the National Capital Region.
Tsui said they are also planning to launch new games and offer entertainment options to attract more users, particularly the 30 to 45 years old, since most of their subscribers are coming from older segments of the market.
The firm is allotting P1.5 billion to P2 billion for maintenance capital expenditures this year, “around 20 percent to 30 percent more than last year because we expect some bingo site upgrades for 2024,” said Tsui.
For this year’s capex, he said “at least 50 percent goes into the technologies and game developments. We also expect to spend some monies on our site and equipment upgrades. Those are the big ticket items for our capex this year.”
Tsui said they need to upgrade their sites “because in the last couple of years, you can see some of our sites are getting old. So we have to probably invest a little bit more to upgrade our sites, but later part of it, we expect there will be more investment, we'll go into the digital world technology side of it.”
While the company is still focused on growing its domestic market which still remains largely untapped, Tsui said they are also looking at venturing overseas in the near future, particularly in countries where there are large Filipino communities after noting that their games are designed to cater to Filipino preferences.