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 this week. Please email Lisa if you will be attending GDC and would like to set up a meeting.

According to the MIIT, China has broadband penetration of 11.7%, compared with an average of 25.7% in developed economies. The number of broadband users is 159 million. The government hopes to increase broadband coverage to 95% by 2015. There are problems, including: 

• high prices
• poor connections
• poor customer service
• disparity in coverage between cities and rural areas 
• and a developing infrastructure 

In total, there are 564 million Internet users including 388 million mobile Internet users. Gaming remains one of the leading apps for use on PC and mobile devices and as broadband is expanding and enhanced, we expect it to be a driver for growth of more gamers nationwide. Those in the rural areas and smaller cities with less propensity to spend on technology would likely engage in gaming via I-Cafés and mobile devices, while those who can afford home PCs may play at home or at home and I-Cafés, depending on their preferences.  

Tech in Asia reports that Facebook has retaken Vietnam's social networking throne from rival Zing, operated by the nation's largest online game operator, VNG. Facebook had been loosely banned in Vietnam but with the pace of user acquisition somewhere near 1 million a month, per Tech in Asia, it would seem that the ban is no longer relevant. The total FB users in VN is somewhere between 12-15 million people. FB is a popular source of social gaming throughout much of Asia (albeit not mainland China) as it is in the rest of the world. Vietnam has a strong hard-core gamer contingent but as in other countries, new gamers are entering via social gaming. The increase in FB users will be a driver for an increase in gamers in Vietnam, which is Southeast Asia's largest gaming economy by far. By Niko's account, the VN games market achieved more than $220 million in revenue in 2012. 

IDC says that China will have a slowdown in PC sales in early 2013. It is likely that this pertains mostly to business PCs and not home PCs, as there is momentum in home PC usage in China. The IDC statement continues to say that tablets are taking share from PCs, and that is no surprise. Mobile is a disruptor of PC gaming, but people are using tablets primarily for gaming and videos and other digital entertainment. So even if PC shipments are slowing in China, it does not reflect slowing for gaming demand, but it may reflect stronger demand for mobile games. Again, we think it is important to look more closely at the data to see if it is the home PC segment that is in decline or simply the commercial segment.