Tencent had a record year in 2016 as it saw game revenues increase 25% YoY to 70,844 million RMB / $10.2 billion USD. This makes Tencent the world’s largest games company for the fourth year in a row and it’s worth bearing in mind that the $10.2 billion number doesn’t include revenues generated by Supercell who [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
