The first quarter of 2023 has been positive for China video game approvals and Niko Partners expects total game licenses for the full year to surpass 1,100, returning to a level last seen in 2020. The National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA), the government regulator responsible for issuing game licenses (ISBNs) approved 288 games in Q1 [...]
Three years ago, in early 2020, Wuhan announced the closure of the city due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Three months into my family’s confinement as residents of Wuhan I wrote “A personal account of gaming and life in Wuhan during the COVID-19 outbreak” to share my story about gaming during the initial Wuhan lockdown with Niko’s [...]
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 [...]
Sony has just celebrated its second year of selling the PlayStation 4 in China. The console originally launched in China mainland back in March 2015 and since then, Sony and rival Microsoft have been trying to grow the appeal of consoles in the country. With a population of over 1.3 billion, one may think that it [...]
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’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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej Passes Away The world's longest reigning monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, King Rama IX of the Chakri dynasty, passed away this week at the age of 88. There will be at least 15 official days of mourning before succession can take place and then Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn will ascend to the throne. Currently [...]
Happy Lunar New Year! 新年快乐- xīnnián kuàilè! Happy Lunar New Year to all of our readers! May the Year of the Fire Monkey be prosperous for you all. Xiaomi Game Center's 2015 Annual Report Xiaomi released the Xiaomi Game Center's 2015 annual report. The report shows that the Xiaomi Game Center had 1.45 billion downloads in [...]
