Companies Battle for the Chinese Video Game Market

Regulations for TV Set-Top Boxes in China

The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) announced new regulations for TV set-top boxes including a list of 81 banned 3rd party apps. Taobao’s Tmall division, which certifies that all products sold on Tmall are official and authentic, said that it will upgrade its operating system and with the upgrade all 81 of those apps will be blocked from Tmall. 70% of TV set-top boxes use the YunOS, and many have also said that they will need to upgrade their systems accordingly.

Malaysian Government Supports Game Devs

The Malaysian Government agency Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) ‘s Creative Multimedia Division Director Hasnul Hadi bin Samsudin said the agency is developing a framework iintended to spur collaboration among Southeast Asian digital games developers.

Layoffs at Red5

Plagued Chinese online game operator, The9, suffered from a transfer in license of World of Warcraft to NetEase several years ago, and subsequently placed hope in the success of Firefall by Red5, a company they acquired in 2010. The CEO of Red5, Mark Kern, was removed from his office in 2013, and now The9 has announced significant layoffs at Red5 based on Firefall’s poor Chinese launch, according to an article in Gamasutra.

China Cuts Off Mobile Users Circumventing Internet Filters

An article in The New York Times reports that the Chinese government is shutting down the mobile service of residents in Xinjiang who use software that lets them circumvent Internet filters, escalating an already aggressive electronic surveillance strategy in the country’s fractious western territory.

Companies Battle for the Chinese Video Game Market

The Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business magazine, Knowledge, published an article about the Chinese digital games industry and featured an interview with Niko Partners in both its print edition and online. The online article is here, and there are several other interesting articles in that edition of the magazine.

Southeast Asian Countries Form ASEAN

Ten countries that are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) signed a compact to formally establish a European Union-style organization to encourage investment and economic growth in the region. At the East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur, the new organization, called the “ASEAN Community,” said its members will collaborate to allow more unrestricted movement of capital and labor in a region that’s home to upwards of 600 million people, more populous than North America or the European Union, reports Voice of America (VOA). The ASEAN member countries are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Niko Partners analyzes the digital games markets of 6 of the 10 countries.

Niko Partners on Twitter

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