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. 

According to Niko's monthly I-Café Games Usage Data from January-March 2013, FPS games and MoBA (specifically LOL) are the hottest games to be played in an I-Café setting. Young male gamers enjoy this style of game, they do not mind playing in I-Cafés and the games in the shooter genre play well there. In fact, shooter games (FPS and third-person shooters such as World of Tanks) represented 25% of total game launches in I-Cafés in those three months. Cross Fire dominated, capturing about 90% of all FPS gaming hours.  Contact us for a free sample of Niko's I-Café Games Usage Data. 

NetEase is launching their DOTA-like game Hero Sanguo and working with Blizzard on DOTA and War3. The company hopes to host many tournaments to promote these competitive games in the 2nd half of 2013.  

Niko's latest mini-survey results: Do you play games at home on a NB or DT PC? (1,016 responses, fielded in two days on our database of 1.8 million consumers). Notebooks have caught up to DT PCs, but surprisingly the majority of gaming time (of this unscreened sample) is spent away from home...

1. Do you play games on your home PC?

a. No, I do not have a PC at home----17 Responses

b. No, I have PC at home, but I do not play games on it----129 Responses

c. Yes, I play games on a desktop PC at home----294 Responses

d. Yes, I play games on a notebook PC at home----258 Responses

e. Yes, I play games on both my DT and my NB at home----318 Responses

2. Is your current home PC, or at least one of your home PCs, a gaming PC or marketed as being good for gaming?

a. Yes----746 Responses

b. No----270 Responses

3. Of 100% of your time spent gaming on a PC, how much time is spent gaming on your home PC rather than at an I-Cafe or the office?

a. 0----27 Responses

b. 1%-20%----363 Responses

c. 21%-50%----350 Responses

d. 51%-80%----199 Responses

e. 81%-99%----45 Responses

f. 100%----32 Responses