In September 2025, Hong Kong-listed company TANWAN (09890.HK) announced it has secured exclusive licensing rights for the Garfield family IP in Greater China, planning to develop non-functional collectible merchandise including figurines, blind boxes, sculptures, building blocks, and plush products. The gaming company, once famous for its viral advertising campaigns, is now attempting to find new growth curves by venturing into the collectible toy sector.
TANWAN's wholly-owned subsidiary Guangzhou Lilinya Culture Entertainment Co., Ltd. officially signed the "Garfield Family IP Licensing Agreement" with Chengdu Mowanka Culture Communication Co., Ltd.
Under the agreement, TANWAN obtained exclusive development and sales rights for the Garfield family IP in Greater China (covering mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan), with licensing scope including figurines, blind boxes, sculptures, building blocks, plush products, and other non-functional collectible merchandise. The licensing period runs from September 1, 2025, to May 17, 2030, spanning nearly five years.
Both parties have also reached preliminary cooperation intentions regarding game design, development, adaptation, and publishing rights based on the IP, planning to jointly create a Garfield family IP ecosystem community.
The Garfield family IP originates from the serialized comic "Garfield" created by American cartoonist Jim Davis in 1978, boasting over 40 years of historical heritage.
This classic IP has nearly 300 million loyal fans worldwide and has created over $10 billion in market value, with its cross-generational and cross-regional cultural influence continuing to generate renewed vitality.
Garfield's personality of "telling the truth and doing what you want" allows audiences to release stress through laughter and gain psychological comfort, which is a key reason for its global popularity.
In summer 2024, the animated film "The Garfield Movie" was released globally, once again igniting IP popularity and commercial potential. Chengdu Mowanka serves as the exclusive general licensing agent for the film's IP in Greater China, holding five-year comprehensive derivative product commercialization rights.
TANWAN's acquisition of exclusive Garfield family IP licensing rights marks an important breakthrough in the company's IP ecosystem strategic layout. The company consistently adheres to its core "IP ecosystem strategy," with the brand value proposition of "illuminating daily life with creativity and fun."
In collectible toy business planning, TANWAN entered the collectible market in 2021 by launching its proprietary IP "BRO KOOLI." In 2025, the company's collectible business welcomed strategic upgrades: establishing a new collectible business team, launching experimental vinyl plush collectible figure "CASHY BABY," and planning to introduce the industry's first water-chip vegetarian collectible IP "LILIA ANGEL."
TANWAN plans to build a "virtual-physical" interactive IP value-added system, transforming game character images and cultural symbols into collectible products with collection value and market influence, extending IP lifecycle and forming cross-media, cross-consumption scenario ecosystem loops.
Behind this increased investment in the collectible sector, TANWAN has faced sustained business performance decline in recent years. From 2021 to 2024, the company's net profit attributable to shareholders declined year-over-year, at 615.9 million yuan, 514.1 million yuan, 235.5 million yuan, and -3.624 million yuan respectively.
In terms of revenue, after the company's revenue surged 53.72% to 8.817 billion yuan in 2022, it has declined year-over-year for the past two years, with total revenue falling to 5.58 billion yuan in 2024.
In the first half of 2025, TANWAN achieved total revenue of 2.005 billion yuan, down 37.86% year-over-year. Although the company's net profit increased 257.21% year-over-year, this was mainly due to fair value changes related to other listed company shares held by the group shifting from losses to gains, rather than improvement in core business operations.
Collectible business accounts for an extremely low proportion of TANWAN's overall revenue. Prospectus and annual reports show that since 2021, this business achieved revenues of 30 million yuan, 216 million yuan, 214 million yuan, and 102 million yuan respectively, accounting for 0.5%, 2.4%, 3.3%, and 1.8% of total revenue respectively. In the first half of 2025, this business revenue accounted for only 2.6%.
China's collectible market has developed rapidly in recent years, but competition has also intensified. TANWAN's performance in consumer goods has been poor, with this business revenue "halving" in 2024. The company explained this was mainly due to the group's strategic focus on marketing and operations of core gaming products, as well as intense market competition in the consumer goods sector.
This is not TANWAN's first attempt at cross-industry transformation. In early 2022, seeking transformation and listing pathways, the company upgraded its brand to "Zhongxu Future" and attempted to break away from the "pure gaming" label, expanding into consumer goods sectors including food, collectibles, and new-style beverages. It launched the fast food brand "Zhazahui" and collectible IP "Bro Kooli," envisioning the creation of an integrated "eat, drink, play, enjoy" consumption ecosystem.
However, these attempts yielded minimal results, and the transformation strategy failed to form a clear closed loop. In July 2025, the company announced its return to the "TANWAN" brand, widely interpreted as a signal of refocusing on core gaming business and strategic restructuring.
TANWAN's acquisition of Garfield IP licensing for cross-industry collectibles represents strategic breakthrough attempts amid lackluster growth in core business. The global influence and emotional penetration of the Garfield IP provides TANWAN with opportunities to reach users across multiple age groups.
However, cross-industry success depends on whether TANWAN can truly understand the essence of the collectible industry, achieve effective synergy between gaming and collectibles, and find differentiated advantages in intense market competition.
For TANWAN, the Garfield IP represents both an opportunity and a high-stakes test of its strategic execution capabilities.
(Note: This article incorporates AI tools in its generation and does not constitute investment advice. Markets carry risks, and investment requires caution.)