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. 

In recent days there have been at least two reports of Chinese mobile games market data that vary widely. IDC claims there were 89 million mobile gamers, whereas iResearch says there are 41 million. We feel that both of those figures, while widely divergent, underestimate the number of mobile gamers in China. Our figure is 160 million. Niko is finalizing a methodology for mobile games data for 2013 that will enable us to have the most robust information on millions of gamers and the mobile games that they play.   

NetDragon announced that the company hopes to spin off its wireless business and list it on the Hong Kong exchange, pending board approval. NetDragon's 91.com (91 Assistant) wireless unit has generated strong profit and revenue growth, and is well regarded as a leading portal for mobile games in China. In the Q3 2012 earnings statement the company said that 91 Assistant had 127 million users, up 253.4% over the same period in 2011.  

Sina Weibo added an English language interface, long awaited since Tencent Weibo introduced its own English capabilities months ago. Tencent Weibo and Sina Weibo are the fierce front running competitors in China's microblogging segment.