SAN FRANCISCO —  Feb. 14, 2013 — International mobile game developer and publisher CocoaChina/Chukong today announced the expansion of its U.S. presence with the hiring of Kai Zhao as VP of Engineering. In his new role, Zhao will lead the technical direction for infrastructure supporting mobile games published in the U.S., build strategic partnerships with key developers, and expand the success of the innovative Cocos2d-x game engine among the U.S. developer community.

“Our primary objective in 2013 is to improve development infrastructure, user engagement, and monetization for mobile games published in the U.S. market and beyond, and Kai’s technical expertise will drive us in the right direction,” said Lei Zhang, U.S. General Manager, CocoaChina/Chukong. “We’ve established a strong developer community overseas and built key partnerships with several top developers. This year we plan to continue to build out and support the large community here in the West as well.”

Prior to joining CocoaChina/Chukong, Zhao was co-founder of the photo-sharing company Keepsy, and served as Chief Technology Officer, leading the development of Keepsy’s web and mobile products. In addition, he co-founded Chinese translation website Yeeyan and held technical positions for over fifteen years with major tech companies, including AOL, Netscape, and Motorola.

CocoaChina/Chukong has solidified itself as one of China’s largest and most successful mobile gaming companies. As reported in November 2012, their flagship title Fishing Joy 2 generated $1.6 million in monthly revenue with a free-to-paid conversion rate of 30% in China, far above industry averages. In addition, the company has made strategic partnerships with Korean mobile gaming giant NEXON and US mobile developer Z2Live to bring their games to the Greater China Region, establishing CocoaChina/Chukong as a leading partner for developers looking to break in to the lucrative Chinese mobile game market.

About CocoaChina

Founded in 2008, CocoaChina is the first and largest Chinese developer platform dedicated to mobile game development. CocoaChina began as a forum for Chinese iOS developers and now operates under the umbrella of Chukong Technologies. PunchBox Studios, which also operates under Chukong Technologies, was created by the same team behind CocoaChina to help developers create, monetize, localize, and distribute their mobile games globally. Headquartered in Beijing, China, CocoaChina also has offices in Sunnyvale, California and Tokyo, Japan. For more information, please visit http://www.chukong-inc.com/.

For more information about cocos2d-x, the open source 2D game engine funded by CocoaChina/Chukong, please visit www.cocos2d-x.org.