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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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Guild Wars 2 Launch in China
 Guild Wars 2 launched in open beta May 8th, and officials say that 500,000 preorders were placed in April. This is a unique game because it is highly anticipated yet it has a pay-up-front business model, whereas nearly all popular games in China are free to play with in-game purchases. There are reports that the online operator in China, KongZhong, has had to deal with account hacking early on. We are recalling how AION (operated by Shanda in China) was also a highly anticipated game that had a subscription model (different from the Guild Wars 2 model), and there was a great deal of account hacking upon launch of that game as well. |
Xiaomi Launches iPad Mini Competitor
Xiaomi is a powerhouse in inexpensive Android-based smartphones and they have announced their first tablet, rumored to be competitive with the iPad Mini.
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NBA 2K Online's Success
According to Take-Two, their partnership with Tencent has been paying off. NBA 2K Online is a free-to-play basketball game featuring every licensed NBA team and it has been out since 2012. Thanks to Tencent's support, the game is currently the number one PC online sports game in China with over 19 million registered users.
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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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