Chinese Companies Hold 46% Mobile Phone Market In India According to Counterpoint Research, Chinese companies were listed as four of the top five smartphone brands in India as of 2016. Vivo, Xiaomi, Lenovo and Oppo (which is now leading the way in China) were the four brands eating up India's market share. Samsung led the way, [...]
Mobile eSports has grown to such an extent in China that it has become its own segment, separate from PC-based eSports. The Chinese government was quick to recognize the growing Mobile eSports market and the Ministry of Culture created the Mobile eSports Game Association in early 2016. The first Chinese Mobile eSports Games (CMEG) conference took [...]
In celebration of our 15th anniversary of delivering clients high-integrity market intelligence on the Chinese and Southeast Asian digital games industry, Niko Partners offers you our Top 15 predictions about the 2017 digital games industry in the markets we cover: Mainland China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. 1. More than 500 million will [...]
Chinese Regulators Indicate a Ban on All Future AR+LBS Games It appears that Pokemon will not Go in China. Reuters reports that SAPPRFT is concluding its review of a recommendation by a government body that states that Augmented Reality and Location Based Services (AR+LBS) games are dangerous for personal safety and national geo-security. If that is [...]
Kabam to Sell Assets to South Korea's Netmarble Kabam is selling a majority of their assets to Netmarble in Q1 2017. The most notable asset is Kabam's Vancouver studio, which according to Gamesindustry.biz, "has proven its worth with the popular Marvel Contest of Champions game, which has grossed over $450 million since launching in December 2014, [...]
Pokemon Go in Southeast Asia While Pokemon Go's popularity has subsided in parts of the western world, the game is still a hit in Southeast Asia and brands are continuing to embrace the augmented reality game. Companies throughout Vietnam, the Philippines, Singapore and beyond have signed licensing agreements with Nintendo. China's Newest Online Gaming Regulations - [...]
New MOC Rule for Virtual Currencies The latest regulation to apply to virtual game currencies in video games has been released under the MOC, even though the SAPPRFT released a similar regulation on July 1st. Either way, the rule will be implemented on May 1st, 2017 so operators have six months to adjust. The ruling states [...]
Prince Vajiralongkorn to Become Thailand's New King Thailand has begun the process of naming Prince Vajiralongkorn as the new king of Thailand, becoming King Rama X or the 10th king of the Chakri dynasty. According to the BBC, however, there has been a lot of uncertainty as Prince Vajiralongkorn wanted to postpone the process by at [...]
NetEase Challenges Tencent's Stronghold On Mobile Publishing According to App Annie, NetEase has now replaced Tencent as the top mobile publisher by revenue worldwide as the company's apps continue to grow in China. "The big reason here for NetEase's surge is that it has the top two most lucrative games worldwide with the card-battling Onmyoji game [...]
One Company's Obsessive Quest to Crack China's $8 Billion Mobile Games Industry The founders of smartphone games studio Dots are determined to break into China's lucrative, maddening market. If China doesn't break them first. Read more about Dots' adventure into China in this latest article from Inc., including quotes from Niko's Lisa Hanson. The article is [...]
