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Everything you need to know this week about the games market in Asia
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Every week, our analysts review dozens of news sources, from multiple countries, in multiple languages. From this, we give you the stories that are most important, and the analysis to tell you why.
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Chinese Games vs. Japanese Games
 Yi Ren, CEO of DeNA China, was interviewed by Gamelook and talked about his understanding in different features between Chinese and Japanese mobile game market. Mr. Ren said that Japanese mobile games are known for the low quantity, high quality and long life cycle. Japanese gamers grew up with console game machines, so they have higher expectations for game quality. Chinese mobile games developed with the growth of Internet coverage, so they are more into interaction and "PK" (the challenge of player kills). The main reason why Chinese and Japanese market are different is that they are at different development stages. Japan has already had a very large coverage of mobile phones, while China's mobile phone coverage was just about to boom several years ago. The quality of games made in 2012 in China is very different from those made in 2013, and Chinese players will learn to choose higher quality games as the market grows. |
Guild Wars 2 in China
KongZhong will employ a unique business model for operations of ArenaNet's Guild Wars 2 when the game launches in China. The company plans to use a one-time purchase model, with frequent free updates. Typically PC online games in China follow the Free to Play model, and occasionally the subscription model. The upfront cost is not yet disclosed.
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Partnerships Increasing in China
Perfect World and Huawei have signed a strategic partnership to approach the games industry on the Internet. The two parties will start from the "living room entertainment" to cooperate in game implanting, game importing, game development, game publishing, game client development, cloud platform building, global marketing, channel distribution and sales, etc., and expand the business to even the filed of wearable devices.
Partnerships are becoming very common lately - Kingsoft has partnered with Xiaomi and with Tencent. Xiaomi has partnered with Tencent over QQ. NetEase has partnered with China Telecom to launch a messaging app. The lines between operators, hardware providers, telecoms and other industries are blurring more
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Softbank Invests in Ini3
Softbank Ventures Korea has taken a 23% stake in Thai online games operator Ini3 Digital for an undisclosed amount. Ini3 Digital is one of the leading online game operators in Thailand and a formidable force for online games in SEA. The 10-year old company says it will use the investment to expand internationally, first to Vietnam. Niko Partners sees Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia as the most important games markets in SEA.
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ABOUT NIKO
Niko News is just one part of the strategy and expertise offered by Niko Partners to help our clients better understand and successfully navigate the thriving games markets of China and Southeast Asia.
Niko Partners is the leading provider of market intelligence, custom research, and consulting services focused on the games industries in China and Southeast Asia. Since 2003 we have provided critical information to the world's leading game publishers, developers, hardware makers, and game service providers as well as to government policymakers, trade associations, and institutional investors.
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