Niko News is a filter of the most important news items and bits of information concerning the games markets of China and Southeast Asia uncovered by Niko each week. Our multilingual analysts review dozens of news sources from several countries, and as a team Niko reduces the long list of articles to 3-4 "must read" items for you. We then provide our Niko analysis to these items, making them relevant and highlighting the importance for the market. This service is one of the many ways we help distill the confusing, conflicting information about the games markets of Asia for our clients and readers. 

The difficulty that Google is feeling in mainland China reflects the barrier of the regulatory system and the need for a company to truly get to know China before launching there. We believe that Google has done its proper due diligence for China's market but the fact that its servers are in Hong Kong makes it difficult for users to access full functionality. Even when we work in China and try to use Google we are redirected to the Hong Kong site. Baidu dominates the search space, but Tencent is also an important market player.  

Tech in Asia presents an interesting look into broadband speeds and raises an issue that may hinder growth of online gaming in China, which is that the speeds there are much slower than even in neighboring Hong Kong and other countries. Shanghai is the  Chinese city with the fastest broadband. 

Mobile game distribution platforms are gaining recognition in China. Red Herring recently dubbed CocoaChina as one of 100 hot Asia-based companies. CocoaChina develops compelling games including the wildly popular Fishing Joy (more than 100 million downloads) and Fishing Joy 2. In addition the company distributes 3rd party titles. Tuesday, September 25th, Lisa Hanson will give a fireside chat in San Francisco at an event hosted by YODO1, a competitor to CocoaChina. The topic is China's mobile games market. There are many aspects to this fast-growing market, not the least of which is the massive fragmentation of all market layers. Niko's Mobile Games report is an excellent way to get up to speed on this market.