Niko News on China's Video Game Market
Volume 28
 February 2010

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Weekly Twitter Posts

DDO's increase in revenues after switching to F2P = gamers spend as much/more on free games, just like in China http://bit.ly/95hrdk
11:09 PM Feb 26th from web

Lisa Hanson is gearing up for GDC as a panel moderator during Games Beat and an attendee all week. Contact us for a meeting. 11:08 AM Feb 24th via web

Niko's Lisa Hanson vPanelist for IP Protection for Video Games in China vPanel 2/24 - info and register: http://bit.ly/9bDZwq 6:40 AM Feb 23rd via web

Lisa is heading to DICE today. Contact her for an appointment at info@nikopartners.com 10:06 AM Feb 17th from web

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Welcome to Niko News, just part of the market intelligence experience offered  to help you better understand the thriving video game market of China.

Niko Partners is the premier provider of market intelligence and custom research services on China's video game industry. There are more than 70 million Chinese gamers eager to play hit titles on systems with the latest technologies. With Niko Partners market intelligence services, you can get to know these gamers, find Chinese partners, and use our actionable market data to build and execute your strategic plan.

The happy news that GAPP finally approved World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade for legal distribution in China on Feb 12th plus the strong financial report that NetEase released this week should result in a good year in 2010 for both NTES and Blizzard China. The next major event will be whether Wrath of the Lich King is approved sometime in the next few months. NetEase had to stop commercial play for a week to comply with GAPP requirements, but perhaps that was a measure to save face and one that helped to reinforce the idea that GAPP still holds significant power in the content approval process for online games. What a long 9 months it has been for Blizzard China though...
Niko believes that Chinese online game operators spread themselves too thin by filling their pipelines with too many games, as is the case with Nineyou's announcement to start operating 10 new games in 2010. While it is wise to hedge bets on whether a game will actually turn into a hit, it is very difficult to support 10 new games and even more difficult to expect one to be a runaway success. Nineyou is still hopeful for an IPO, and this move is likely one to impress investors who somehow think that numerous titles in a pipeline mean that a company is a worthy investment. The market has witnessed the contrary over the past few years, and the leading operators remain those with huge hits and solid processes in place to support all games they distribute. Niko's personal opinion is that Nineyou has good people in management and exciting ideas, and deserves continued success. Here's hoping that their big pipeline will help them achieve that in spite of our skepticism.
Chinese gamers demand instant gratification in the same manner that gamers from other countries do, as was mentioned at the DICE conference last week. Niko has found from our gamer surveys and industry interviews that the situation is even more extreme in China, with gamers literally dropping a game if they cannot refill their prepaid card accounts within moments of the initial card value running out. One prepaid card company told us in 2009 that gamers will switch games if it takes longer than 30 seconds for their accounts to refill!
If you have any questions or if you have a project that could use our assistance, please let us know at info@nikopartners.com