The China PC Online Games Market Topic Report, the 1st of 5 companion reports to Niko’s 2017 China Digital Games Market Data Report, is now available. Key takeaways about the Chinese PC online games market in 2017 include: Despite the rapid ascent of Mobile games and the legal launch of consoles in 2015 after a 14-year [...]
Jury to Decide Owner of Dota According to Ars Tecnhica, “Defense of the Ancient's path from an ultra-popular Warcraft III mod to the core of Valve's ultra-popular MOBA, Dota 2, is a long and confusing saga. Now, two developers working on their own mobile versions of Dota are arguing in court that Valve didn't actually acquire [...]
China On Track to Phase Out Paper Money China was the first country to introduce paper money in 740 B.C. and now it is believed that China may be the first country to phase it out completely. According to the article on Motherboard (NSFW), "Pretty much every shop, restaurant and bar accepts WeChat and/or Alipay these [...]
Apple Faces Falling Sales in China The world's most valuable tech company had an average fiscal quarter with declining iPhone sales and slowing demand, despite becoming the first US company to reach a market cap of $800 billion this week. Apple is facing fierce competition in China from OPPO, Vivo, Huawei, Xiaomi - domestic brands that [...]
Overwatch Passes 30 Million Players Blizzard Entertainment announced this week that Overwatch, its team-based shooter, has passed 30 million players since its launch a year ago. They recently announced hitting the 25 million mark in January. There is no clear delineation on what percentage of these players are on PC or Xbox One or PlayStation 4. [...]
Tencent Bringing Rocket League to China Tencent has announced that they are bringing Psyonix's Rocket League to China. We have anticipated that it would be a great game for China's console market due to its emphasis on fun and racing, rather than any bloody violence. The console version also has built-in filters where players can choose [...]
2022 Asian Games Adds Esports Esports will now be an official medal sport in the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. The Olympic Council of Asia has also been working with Alisports to include esports in the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Turkemnistan and in the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia next year, but [...]
Alibaba's Sports Business Raises Over $1 Billion RMB in Series A Funding Alibaba Sports has confirmed that they have raised RMB 1.2 billion (approximately $17 million USD) at a valuation of RMB 7 billion ($100 million USD). The funding round is being led by Yunfeng Capital and will also include Taiping Guofa Dingsheng Capital and Qianheng [...]
China Celebrates Annual Qingming Festival The Qingming (or Ching Ming) Festival, also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day, is a traditional Chinese festival on the first day of the fifth solar term of the traditional Chinese calendar. This year it took place on April 4th and the holiday was officially reinstated in China 9 years ago. People celebrate [...]
China’s Internet regulator, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), published draft regulations back in October 2016 that are designed to protect minors (citizens under 18) online. An updated draft of the regulations was published last month and is set to be finalized shortly. These regulations plan to address growing concerns around Internet privacy, cyberbullying and online [...]
