On May 23, the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi ended with a spectacular light show. (Source: Bernama) Vietnam hosted the 31st Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in May 2022, the first major in-person sporting event in the region after a two-year hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the second time Vietnam has hosted the [...]
The mascot of the 31st SEA Games is Sao La, which is based on the saola, a rare animal native to central Vietnam listed in Vietnam’s Red Book of Endangered Species and one of the world's rarest animals. The Southeast Asian Games (commonly known as the SEA Games) is a biennial multi-sport event that involves athletes [...]
Southeast Asia is a fast-growing region for the gaming industry. Niko Partners estimates that total mobile & PC game revenue will reach $6.7 billion in Southeast Asia in 2025, with an estimated CAGR of 7.8% for 2021-2025. Esports is an important segment of the games industry, especially in Southeast Asia where there are over 100 million [...]
The 19th China Digital Entertainment Expo & Conference (ChinaJoy) took place July 30 - August 2, 2021, with a theme “Create Dreams with Technology and Win the Future with Fun.” There were more than 500 exhibitors across the B2B and B2C segments, nearly 30% of which were foreign, that displayed games, hardware, accessories, and new technological [...]
Moving into 2021, esports are cautiously returning to in-person events and several large-scale international competitions are now on the books for late 2021. The Asian esports industry seems hopeful. However, the effects of 2020 are still quite visible and the industry balances caution and a desire to return to normal. Leading Titles Taking Shape LoL League [...]
Niko’s China Games Streaming Tracker tracks streaming and viewing on China’s largest game streaming platforms. Streaming video is one of the most important components of the gaming and esports industry. We track and analyze the three platforms to produce weekly market trends and game rankings including: heat index, streaming hours, unique streamers, total tips/gifts, fans per streamer, and [...]
China bans fundraising through ICOs China has banned and made illegal the practice of raising funds through digital token based initial coin offerings (ICO). The rise of cryptocurrencies has led to $2.2 billion having been raised through ICOs this year alone. Chinese regulators have described initial coin offerings as “a form of unapproved illegal public financing” [...]
China Unicom to Raise $11.7 Billion from Private Firms China Unicom is said to be raising $11.7 billion from investors including the likes of Tencent and Alibaba. China Unicom will be the first of the state-run telecom entities to receive private capital and mixed ownership. China Mobile is still the world's largest mobile phone operator in [...]
Philippines Government Announces Support for Esports The Philippines' Games and Amusement Board has officially begun to recognize esports and competitive computer/video gaming as a professional activity. The GAB has licensed several Filipino Dota 2 players to travel to the USA for the International - previously, they would sign on with Chinese teams. However, there may also [...]
Tencent’s PC Games Revenue is Larger than Reports Reflect According to Tencent’s Q1 2017 financial release dated 17 May 2017, total online games revenue in the first quarter was 22,800 million RMB ($3,360 million). That’s $3 billion in one quarter alone, just from online games! The financial report says that PC client-based games revenue was 14,100 [...]
