Bukalapak Acquires itemku, a Synergy to Boost Digital Asset Sales in the Game Industry

Bukalapak is acquiring itemku, an online platform marketplace for game-related digital products. This news was first confirmed by Khailee Ng, Managing Partner of 500 Startups, through uploads on his personal LinkedIn - it is known that 500 Startups are investing in both Bukalapak and itemku. Not long afterm, itemku team has also confirmed directly.

Previously, on May 11, 2021, Bukalapak also announced its strategic partnership with itemku, with a mission to facilitate access to the video game industry in Indonesia. Bukalapak's COO, Willix Halim said, "I realize that the need for home entertainment has increased during the pandemic, and itemku are doing a great job of understanding those needs. I hope that with our shared strength, we can help catalyze the need for digital gaming in Indonesia."

Meanwhile, itemku's Founder & CEO Denis Kim said, "Millions of Indonesians have used itemku for years. However, we want to go beyond just making digital entertainment inclusive. I fully agree with Bukalapak's vision to build an economy that is fair for all, and that's why we decided to collaborate with them. We want to have a big impact on hundreds of millions of Indonesians, just as they have done. Along with the social impact, I hope this collaboration can bring rapid development in this industry."

In this partnership, both itemku and Bukalapak will have a strong strategic collaboration commitment, including:

• Synergize the team: Bukalapak and itemku work together as a team.
• Reach more users throughout Indonesia: itemku products are widely distributed through the Bukalapak network including in rural areas.
• Doing new project development together: many types of new projects will be developed together.

itemku representative said, for now and in the future itemku will still stand as a separate entity. There is no plan to merge with the Bukalapak's marketplace. In a general note, itemku provides a marketplace service that allows users to buy and sell digital game assets. They also sell various vouchers for premium access to a game.

itemku is part of Five Jack, founded in 2014. In addition to 500 Startups, they also received funding from Bon Angels Venture Partners.

In our previous interview, itemku's CPO, Virdienash Haqmal said, the company's GMV per month had increased by 15-20%, as well as revenue during 2020. Customer growth also increased by 60% from January to June 2020. Meanwhile, for marketing activities, the company reduced its budget by 80%.

Game industry market landscape

According to a report from Verizon, mobile game usage rose 75% during the first phase of lockdown in 2020, compared to the pre-pandemic period, and there were more than 2.3 billion mobile game downloads between March 5 and April 5, up 60% at the same time the previous year. Based on data presented by Nielsen, spending on video games increased by 11% in March 2020.

IDC analysts predict that there will be a 20% increase in global video game revenue in 2020 to $179.7 billion, higher than the film sector. The data shows that a large number of people were acquainted with and tried video games for the first time during the pandemic and that many of them will continue to play games in the future. This prediction is reinforced by a survey conducted by Google and Savanta in May 2020 of 7,611 people, the fact is that 40% of new players will tend to continue playing when this pandemic situation is over, and as many as 65% say they will play the game longer each session than previous.

Another study released in November 2020, conducted by NPD, found that people between the ages of 45 and 54 saw a 59% increase in spending their time playing games over the past year, while the amount of money they spent on or playing games games increased by 76%. For those between the ages of 55 and 64, the time spent playing games increased by 48%, while the amount of money they spent playing games increased by 73%.

Also, another fact shows that out of 5,000 people surveyed, 79% said they had played video games in the previous six months, up 6% from the previous year. These studies and research show that video games are not only attractive to children and adolescents, but for those who are older, video games are a solution for them in distracting boredom during the Covid-19 pandemic.

–Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian