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. 

Lisa Cosmas Hanson, Managing Partner for Niko Partners, will be at the upcoming Game Developers Conference in San Francisco the week of March 25th. Please email Lisa if you will be attending GDC and would like to set up a meeting.

A Tech in Asia report disclosed that Vietnam's largest online game operator, VNG (previously known as Vinagame), achieved record revenue in 2012 of VND 2 trillion ($90 million), up 12% from 2011. The company's business includes social media, online games, messaging, mobile games, distribution and more. Demand for mobile games is growing quickly in Vietnam, as in most other countries. The article estimates VNG's Vietnam games market share at 60%, but Niko estimates it to be lower than that - perhaps 40%.  

Rekoo has grown over the past several years. When Niko first interviewed the company more than 5 years ago, they made widgets to go into social media and had sights set on incorporating them into mobile games. The company progressed into game development, eventually setting its mark as a known SNS game developer. Now Rekoo has taken another step by announcing via weibo an incubator fund with external investors to support mobile game development teams in several areas of business including channel development, marketing, and data analytics.  

Some forecasts call for an installed base of 500 million smartphones in China by the end of 2013 - up from 200 million at the end of 2012. If current market share continues, roughly 25% of those will be iOS and the remainder Android. However, it is more likely that Android will gain share, primarily due to the price. There are many low-priced Android handsets for less than $50 that have very good functionality. Xiaomi, a Chinese smartphone company in the news frequently, makes low-priced Android handsets and has announced estimates for production of 15 million in 2013, up from 7.19 million in 2012.