Game markets: Asia and China

In recent years, the Asia Pacific gaming industry has attracted the attention of investors, developers and analysts. Within Asia, Japan, South Korea and China are the leading markets. The Asia Pacific remains the largest games market and is expected to reach USD71.4 billion in revenue, with a spectacular 39 per cent growth in 2018. By 2021, domestic market revenue in China is poised to increase from USD27 billion to USD35 billion. Asia’s gaming market is being transformed by Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technology as well as gaming on social media platforms. Above all, Esports looks set to transform the industry. These were the findings from a study conducted by Spire Research and Consulting in Q3 2018.

Gaming market in Asia Pacific (APAC)

The Asia-Pacific region has been leading the global electronic game market. In 2017, total revenue from the gaming market reached USD51.2 billion, almost twice the revenue of the second-ranked North American region.

Electronic games have a broader audience due to the adoption of free-to-play gaming along with rising Smartphone penetration. Mobile gaming continues to see tremendous growth within the region. AR and VR are examples of new technologies that could transform the sector within the region.

Table 1 shows the gaming market revenue from 2015 – 2018, by region. Asia Pacific revenue increased from USD43.1 billion in 2015 to USD71.4 billion in 2018.

Gaming market in China

In China, more than 500 million gamers generated over 56 per cent of APAC gaming revenue and 28 per cent of global gaming revenue in 2017. Games like League of Legends have a vast following in China.

Approximately 36 per cent of the world’s game market uses mobile devices, with nearly 183 million mobile players in China alone.

The field of Esports also promises to transform the industry. Esports refers to the public playing of electronic games by professional or semi-professional players, along the lines of conventional sports. Business and institutional eco-systems are emerging around Esports, mirroring those that exist around conventional sports like football and basketball. In China, Tencent-owned Arena of Valor and Clash Royale are the top mobile Esports games. China accounted for 15 per cent of global Esports revenue in 2017, nearly USD660 million.

Among Chinese consumers, mobile VR games are very popular, augmented by affordable and cost-effective VR devices . Chinese consumers prefer low-priced VR devices such as Samsung (Gear) and Google (Cardboard), over costly VR devices provided by HTC (Vive) and Facebook (Oculus).

The rise of mobile gaming

Mobile gaming in Asia is taking off, in contrast to the West where desktop gaming continues to play a major role in the industry.

Over the past five years, the structure of China’s online gaming market has changed drastically, with more share going to mobile games over PC games.

Out of the overall gaming sector in China, the total revenue share of mobile games increased fivefold from 11.6 per cent in 2011 to 63.2 per cent in 2017, as shown in Table 2. This figure is projected to get even bigger, with mobile gaming revenue expected to reach 76.5 per cent in 2022.

In terms of market value growth, Chinese mobile gaming revenue has expanded by 250 per cent from 2015 to 2017.

The rapid expansion of cheap Smartphones with high performance and the rise of female gamers are some of the key drivers behind China’s booming mobile gaming market.

Big players in China

China’s mobile gaming market is highly competitive and currently dominated by Tencent and NetEase.

The world’s top earning mobile game publisher is Tencent with 147 mobile games , including blockbuster titles like Arena of Valor that has over 80 million active gamers each day on an average weekend.

WeChat, a mobile messaging application of Tencent, currently has more than 1 billion monthly active gamers in 2018 and serves as a vital distribution channel for games.

Tencent’s WeChat Mini Program has also seen rapid development, with the viral mini game Tiao Yi Tiao (a mini game directly accessible from the Wechat app, with a scoreboard that permits players to view friends’ rankings) boasting 100 million players.

Upcoming trends for mobile gaming

The Asia Pacific region will remain the largest gaming market by revenue, with over 25 per cent growth expected in 2018.

Three key trends will shape the gaming market going forward.

China’s mobile gaming market will continue to grow, not only in terms of revenue but also in terms of sophistication and quality. This will continue to fuel the development of mobile Esports.
Game exports are expected to rise as Chinese publishers adapt or develop games catering to global audiences.
VR and AR will gain traction despite still being at an embryonic stage. Companies like NetEase have achieved success in AR development and will be experimenting more with this technology in the coming years.

Conclusion

The future is undoubtedly bright for the gaming industry. AR, VR and Esports are a few of the hot concepts of 2018 that are ready to drive gaming in the coming years.

Mobile gaming continues to gain a much larger audience than PC and console games, due to advancements in technology and affordable devices.

China will continue to play a leading role in this industry world-wide. The outlook for Chinese gaming exports is promising. For example, in spite of tough competition, Chinese companies plan to enter South Korea to build more Esports leagues.

Read here more:https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/media/game-markets-asia-and-china/

Spire speaks on ICT sector at the GATES Vietnam ICT Channel Summit in Da Nang

Spire was honored to participate in the GATES Vietnam ICT Channel Summit 2019 as Event Partner. The Summit was held on 11-13 December, in Da Nang. Japnit Singh, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Spire Group, shared his insights on scope and opportunities. Japnit discussed how the ICT sector in Vietnam holds lucrative opportunities. The country boasts the fastest growing economy in South-East Asia with around 13% GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth for manufacturing from FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in 2018. With the 4th fastest download speed in ASEAN, Vietnam’s digital economy continues to grow. E-commerce growth is expected to be 14% from 2019 to 2023, with 97% of online purchases executed through mobile phones. The government’s Digital Economy 2020 plan aims to promote smart cities across the country by 2030. Regulatory reform aims to ease digitization in the government and encourage local businesses to adopt technology. To that end, the government plans to is...

Spire Client Entertainment Night April 2016

Spire Singapore hosted its first Client Entertainment Night of the year. Our business associates and partners joined us for a dinner reception followed by the movie screening of “Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice” – the epic showdown of superheroes. The event was held at Cathay Cineleisure Orchard. It was an opportunity for everyone to let their hair down and take a break from the office. With nearly two years gone since Superman’s battle with Zod – which left the city of Metropolis in ruins, leaving Batman helpless among many – Batman decides to avenge the threat to humanity while Lex Luthor conspires to launch his own vendetta against Superman. The highly anticipated action flick, the good food and even better company made for a great evening enjoyed by all. https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/events/spire-client-entertainment-night-april-2016/

Courier giants to benefit from Indonesia’s e-commerce boom

Indonesia boasts 90 million internet users with online retail sales of USD2.6 billion in 2014. The e-commerce boom has fed robust growth in express courier services. Recognizing this trend, the Indonesia Supply Chain & Logistics Summit 2015 gathered industry leaders and government officials to discuss key industry trends, opportunities and challenges. Jeffrey Bahar, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Spire Research and Consulting group, was invited as a guest speaker at the Supply Chain & Logistics Summit 2015. In his presentation, Bahar highlighted Indonesia’s booming e-commerce industry, focusing on the surge in the express courier services market. Bahar mentioned that outsourced/contract logistics services in Indonesia are worth approximately USD29 billion, with more than 2,500 players in 2015. The industry is supported by growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and domestic consumption. At the same time, Indonesia’s e-commerce market continues to shine. A po...

Africa’s aviation sector opens up

When the African Union (AU) launched the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) in January this year, it finally opened up Africa’s skies. 23 signatories on board, though another 32 AU members are yet to sign on. SAATM’s launch is a part of AU’s Africa 2063 project, which is a commitment to intra-continent development. If a common regulatory framework is put into place, this could benefit intra-continental travellers immensely, thus boosting commerce and tourism flows among African countries. Will Africa become the world’s next big aviation market? Read more here: https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/spirethoughts/africas-aviation-sector-opens-up/

Spire and YCG hold seminar on partnering Vietnamese firms

O n 15 March, Spire and Yamada Consulting Group (YCG) jointly organized a breakfast seminar in Singapore for Japanese speakers, to share insights on Mergers & Acquisition (M&A) deals in Vietnam and investment trends for market entry. An English language seminar on the same theme was held the next day. The speakers were Leon Perera, Chief Executive Officer of Spire Research and Consulting, Eiji Asano, incoming Director for YCG Vietnam and Hafidz Omar, Senior Manager at Spire Research and Consulting. The speakers discussed the impact of growing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as well as the keen interest in Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) in Vietnam. Vietnam’s economy racked up a USD15 billion positive trade balance from 2015 with manufacturing, metals and textiles as the top export industries. Most of Vietnam’s FDI came from Asian countries like the Republic of Korea, China and Singapore. The speakers discussed pull factors for investors, like competitive ...

The Knowledge to Decide

Search This Blog