CHINA TV-BASED GAMERS PROJECTED TO GROW TO 27 MILLION BY 2019

Revenue from consoles, console games and Smart TV games to reach $654 million in 2015, rising to $3.0 billion by 2019

SAN JOSE, Calif. - July 1, 2015 - Niko Partners, the leader in Asian Games Market Intelligence, today announced the availability of the firm's 2015 Chinese TV-based Gaming Report. The report includes detailed data on the market size and forecast for legal game consoles, grey market game consoles, OTT boxes, and Smart TV gaming, as well as gamer behavioral data, drivers and inhibitors for growth, and industry analysis covering 2013 through 2019.

Key takeaways from the July 2015 report on China's TV-Based Gaming Report include:

• TV-based gamers, including consoles, OTT boxes and Smart TVs, are expected to grow to 27 million by 2019
• Revenue from consoles, console games and Smart TV games is projected to reach $654 million in 2015, rising to $3.0 billion by 2019
• Legal sales of the Xbox One and PS4 have been disappointing, with fewer than 550,000 units total expected to be sold in 2015
• Legal sales of the Xbox One and PS4 are anticipated to improve if more AAA titles are approved and if the prices come down further
• OTT set-top boxes and Smart TVs are predicted to overtake console sales by 2019, and gaming is becoming popular on those devices as well
• Smart TV gaming has a better chance of success than game consoles because of the lower price and the nature of the casual family titles available. Hurdles are getting higher quality games, including mid-core and hard-core titles, and inventing a better controller for the games to replace the TV controller

"Despite China being a predominantly PC online gaming culture, Chinese who are now 26-35 years old grew up in the days of Nintendo Super Famicom consoles and are accustomed to playing games with a controller via a TV," said Lisa Cosmas Hanson, Managing Partner and founder of Niko Partners. "These gamers will drive adoption of "over-the-top" (OTT) games played on Smart TVs as well as the use of game consoles, and thus will begin the transformation of the living room to entertainment center."

The newest report contains 70 slides with 35 data exhibits and is available now for $7,000 at the Niko Research Store. In August, Niko will publish the 2015 Chinese Mobile Gaming Report. Niko Partners also publishes research on the Southeast Asian Games Market, a free weekly news digest and analysis called Niko News, and frequently publishes articles and industry analysis at http://nikopartners.com/blog/ and http://www.forbes.com/sites/lisachanson/.