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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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Xbox One in China to Launch TV Services
Xbox One in China has access to Shanghai Media Group's Internet TV platform, and will officially launch TV services such as BesTV Internet TV, English Premier League, and more. TV services will include six categories: Popular movies, TV series, sports games, animation, documentaries, and entertainment shows, all of which support HD display. Users will be able to watch two movies for free each month, and English Premier League games for free for one year.
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Baidu Mobile Games group released its December data report. The report shows that in December, Baidu launched a total of 53 new mobile games, of which 29 are online games and 24 are offline games. Online games are dominated by RPG and card battle games, while offline games are mainly casual/puzzle games. Tian Long Ba Bu 3D continues to be the #1 online game based on revenue, followed by MU Miracle.
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Huawei Ranks 3rd in World
We mentioned that sales of smartphones in mainland China reached 389 million in 2014, 8.2% lower than in 2013, and we also believe the rate of growth will continue to slow down. Meanwhile, Samsung is losing market share in China while Huawei reached #3 in sales with 75 million units sold last year. Domestic brands are anticipated to gain share, already around 78% of all sales, but the installed base already has significant foreign handsets in place.
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Xiaomi Acquires Kingsoft Shares
Kingsoft announced that Xiaomi will acquire 2.93% of Kingsoft shares from TCH Saffron Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tencent. Xiaomi will purchase the shares at HK$ 14.93 per share, and the total investment will be HK$ 527 million (about RMB 420 million/US$ 68 million). After the transaction, Tencent will hold only 9.6% of Kingsoft, down from 12.58%, while Xiaomi will own 2.98%. Lei Jun, co-founder of Xiaomi, is also Kingsoft's chairman. This transaction will increase Lei Jun's voting rights at Kingsoft to 29.9%.
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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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