Elex Technology
Beijing mobile game publisher living off a 13-year-old title, Clash of Kings.
On the record
Checkpoint: Whether Clash of Queens: Light or Dark turns its installs into lasting revenue
The call
Elex still runs on one aging hit while headcount shrinks and no proven new title has replaced it.
Elex Technology makes phone games, most famously a 13-year-old strategy game called Clash of Kings that used to make hundreds of millions of dollars. Today it makes roughly $32 million yearly, down from $700 million a decade ago, and the company has fewer employees than it did three years ago with no new hires listed for 2026. Bigger gaming companies with more money are beating Elex in the rankings, and cheaper copies are easier to build now than ever, so nothing makes Clash of Kings special or hard to replace. The one thing that could save the company is if its new game sequel, Clash of Queens, actually keeps people playing and spending money over the next few years instead of just getting downloaded once and forgotten.
Why
01
AI pressure: None apparent. Generative AI mainly cuts the cost for new rivals to clone Elex's game mechanics and art fast. Could AI do the core job? Only partly.
02
Bigger players: Better-funded mobile strategy game publishers (e.g. Lilith Games, FunPlus). Rivals with bigger budgets already outrank Elex's titles in current strategy game charts. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.
03
What protects it. A 100 million-plus lifetime user base and long-running community loyalty around Clash of Kings.
What would change this call
Clash of Queens: Light or Dark revenue rankings tracked April 2026 to end of 2026. Shows whether early installs convert into durable monetization or fade like a one-off spike.
Elex job posting count and any layoff announcements through 2026. Indicates whether the company is still retrenching or has stabilized staffing.
Clash of Kings chart position versus Whiteout Survival and Last War: Survival in 2026. Shows whether Elex's flagship title is losing ground to better-funded genre peers.
Elex job posting count and any layoff announcements through 2026. Indicates whether the company is still retrenching or has stabilized staffing.
Clash of Kings chart position versus Whiteout Survival and Last War: Survival in 2026. Shows whether Elex's flagship title is losing ground to better-funded genre peers.
Key numbers
- Estimated revenue ~$32M now vs ~$700M in 2016
- Clash of Queens: Light or Dark has 10M+ installs
- Headcount down 16% since 2023, zero 2026 job postings
Named risks
- Single 13-year-old flagship title (Clash of Kings) with no confirmed new hit replacing it.
- Headcount down 16% since 2023 with zero job postings in 2026, signaling contraction.
- Unclear ownership structure since 2021 state-linked mixed ownership reform in Jiangxi.
- Generative AI lowers cost barrier for competitors to clone Elex's genre mechanics.
- No audited financials since 2016; revenue trend unverifiable from public data.
Rivals, as read in July 2026
| Rival | Direction | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| IGG (Lords Mobile, Castle Clash) | gaining on | HKEX-listed rival active in same genre as of 2026-07-26 |
| FunPlus (State of Survival, King of Avalon) | gaining on | Named top strategy-genre competitor in 2021 rankings still cited 2026-02-17 |
| Lilith Games (Rise of Kingdoms, Warpath) | gaining on | Cited alongside Elex as genre peer as of 2026-02-17 |
| Scopely (Star Trek Fleet Command) | contesting | Competing IP in same mid-core strategy genre, cited 2026-02-17 |
| Supercell (Clash of Clans) | losing to | Genre-defining incumbent that Clash of Kings imitated, still referenced 2026-05-26 |
| Whiteout Survival / Last War: Survival | losing to | Named top mobile strategy games displacing older titles as of 2026-06-15 |
Questions people ask
- Is Elex Technology profitable in 2026?
- No audited 2026 figures are public. Elex reported (vendor-claimed via Google Cloud) about $700M annual turnover in 2016 driven by Clash of Kings, while headcount fell from 606 in 2023 to 499 by mid-2026 with zero active job postings, signaling contraction rather than growth.
- Is Elex Technology laying off employees?
- No formal layoff announcement was found, but Revelio Labs data shows Beijing Elex Technology's headcount dropped from about 606 employees in 2023 to about 499 by June 2026, a 16% decline, with active job postings falling to zero in 2026.
- Does Elex Technology still have a hit game besides Clash of Kings?
- Elex released Clash of Queens: Light or Dark, which appeared on Google Play with over 10 million installs as of April 15, 2026, but no independently verified revenue data shows it has become a durable top-grossing title.
- Who owns Elex Technology?
- Elex is listed on China's New Third Board under stock code 872801. In May 2021 it underwent a 'mixed ownership reform' approved by the Jiangxi Provincial State-owned Cultural Assets Supervision office, introducing state-linked oversight, though full current ownership details remain unclear.
- Who are Elex Technology's biggest competitors?
- In the mobile strategy/kingdom-building genre, Elex's Clash of Kings competes with IGG's Lords Mobile and Castle Clash, FunPlus's State of Survival and King of Avalon, Lilith Games' Rise of Kingdoms, and Scopely's Star Trek Fleet Command, alongside newer chart-toppers like Whiteout Survival and Last War: Survival in 2026.
- Could AI replace Elex Technology's games?
- AI is unlikely to replace Elex's live-service player communities directly, but generative AI lowers the cost of building competitive clones and could automate parts of Elex's own workflow, such as the real-time chat translation infrastructure Clash of Kings relies on for its global player base.
Timeline
- 2026-06-29Revelio Labs reports headcount down to ~499, zero active job postings in 2026
- 2026-04-15Clash of Queens: Light or Dark listed on Google Play with 10M+ installs
- 2025Clash of Kings marks 10th anniversary; Elex named to Beijing Top 100 Software Enterprises
- 2021-05-31Mixed ownership reform approved by Jiangxi state-owned cultural assets supervision office
- 2020-11-23Elex raises Series D of roughly $56M led by Sinolink Securities and others
- 2016Google Cloud case study cites Elex annual turnover of about $700M (vendor-claimed)
- 2012Clash of Kings released, later surpassing 100 million total users
- 2008Elex Technology founded in Beijing, China
Revision history
26 July 2026
First assessed. Losing its protection. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
In the same band
Sources
- ELEX Case Study
- Clash of Kings (2026-03-13)
- ELEX_ABOUT US
- ELEX Stock Price, Funding, Valuation, Revenue & Financial Statements (2020-11-23)
- ELEX_NEWS (2021-05-31)
- Elex - Overview, News & Similar companies (2026-07-11)
- Beijing ELEX Technology Number of Employees 2026 (2026-06-29)
- Android developer info on AppBrain (2026-04-15)
- ELEX_NEWS
- IGG Inc. (2026-07-26)
- 2021 Predictions #4 (2026-02-17)
- Top 10 Games Like Clash of Clans to Play in 2026 (2026-05-26)