Clash of Clans in China

Read Lisa Hanson’s latest post on Forbes.com regarding Clash of Clans and possible reasons for its success in China:

Did you happen to see Liam Neeson’s Super Bowl commercial for Clash of Clans? The numbers say you probably did.

The one-minute spot featured the gravel-voiced Irish thespian self-parodying his popular character from the Taken franchise, swearing vengeance upon “BigBuffetBoy85” after watching his disastrously unsuccessful in-game defenses crumble.

It’s a clever ad, and a very funny one, even for non-gamers. But clever and funny alone do not rake in 46 million views on YouTube. The game was already so insanely popular, the commercial didn’t actually give it much of a bump in downloads. It was both a high-profile tool intended to drive new business and a victory lap for the company. The clever marketers behind the most watched Big Game ad of the year likely agree that the success of that commercial is because the game is a veritable phenomenon.

Clash of Clans has impressed the games world in terms of cultural impact, market penetration, and financial success. This is great news for Supercell, the Finland-based video game company responsible for the massive multiplayer online mobile game. Angry Birds, Rovio’s hit game also developed in Finland, paved the way for casual game success at such levels.

Read the rest of the article on Forbes.

Sinocism

This week we selected two items from Sinocism, a daily news digest authored by Bill Bishop that all of you should read because it is excellent. Find it on https://sinocism.com/ and please take the time to contribute a few dollars to it, though the newsletter is offered for free.

Beijing-based Ninebot Acquires Segway, Raises $80M From Xiaomi & Sequoia | TechCrunch
Intriguing news from the personal transportation mobility device sector: Beijing-based company Ninebot has announced that not only will it acquire rival Segway, but it has also scored $80 million in funding from investors including Xiaomi, Sequoia Capital, and Shunwei Foundation.

Alibaba, Tencent Alumni Fuel China’s Startup Success | WSJ
Taking advantage of the extensive alumni network to recruit talent and raise capital, the movement is reminiscent of the wave of Silicon Valley startups that were created by veterans of U.S. tech giants such as PayPal Inc. and Google Inc. in the past decade. The upshot is a vibrant tech scene in China, with billion-dollar startup valuations previously seen only in the U.S.

Father of eSports in Philippines Asks Enthusiasts to Step Up

We found this news item regarding the popularity of eSports in the Philippines to be interesting.

Ronald “Roro” Robins, father of Philippine eSports, Tuesday, April 7, called on eSports enthusiasts to”drop their pride” and “step up” to create an association that would “represent” the gaming community in the country. “What eSports need now is a pro-active group that would represent the gaming industry, a formal association with its own rules and bylaws to represent the entire eSports and gaming community… I am encouraging those who truly care for eSports to drop your pride and step up in the name of the Philippine gaming community,” Roro wrote on his Facebook account. “One thing for sure is that it would be having an official spokesperson for the community and eSports development as a whole (a mixture of perspectives from publishers, personalities, event organizers and teams), [making] it much [broader] compared to the previous commission composed of organizers and managers alone,” Roro said in an email interview.