FUZE Console Launches in China
FUZE launched “Zhanfu (Tomohawk) F1”, an Android-based gaming and entertainment console, and the company announced 76 games that they have signed licensing deals, including Assassin’s Creed Chronicles and Hawken. The Tomohawk F1 is similar to a microconsole whose size is smaller than regular consoles, and it is priced well but it also has a controller and other accessories. The hard drive size is up to 2TB, and the console comes with 6 colors including black, white, gold, military, red, and blue. F1 will have two versions: RMB 899 and RMB 1499. The controller is sold at RMB 199 and the VR accessory is $1199.
Most importantly, Fuze announced that 76 titles are planned for launch in 2016 with a total of 100 planned for the near future, and many of these are AAA titles. Xbox One and PS4 have nowhere near that many titles. We will be watching the FUZE closely – the launch was well received this week. Plus, Niko Partners’ 2016 Chinese TV-based Gaming Report is due in June, and we will include Fuze, Tencent’s microconsole, Xbox One, PS4, and many other STB Android-based game boxes in that study.
iQiyi Taps into Virtual Reality
iQiyi, China’s largest online video platform and a subsidiary of Baidu, announced that the company will tap into VR and that the company’s goal is to build the world’s largest Chinese-language platform. The company will launch 2 apps, iVR Panorama Cinema and iVR Game Room, to provide users with VR viewing experience. iQiyi’s plan includes providing marketing, production and operational support to more than 300 of its partners from VR content and manufacturing sectors with a goal to attract 10 million users in the next 12 months.
Majority of Malaysia’s Top Games Published by Chinese Companies
Gamelook reported that among Malaysia’s Q1 2016 top 20 best-selling games, ¾ of them are published by Chinese companies. Elex and IGG have two games on the list respectively; others include Funplus, Youzu, 37Wan, CMGE, NGames, LONG TECH NETWORK, Mad Head, IGS and Game Dreamer. Malaysia has long been a market that appreciates Chinese games, and a large percentage of gamers there are Malaysian-born Chinese who speak and read Chinese.
Loong Craft Overtakes Clash Royale on iOS in Southeast Asia
Surprisingly, Clash Royale has already been surpassed on the Southeast Asia app store rankings for Apple by Loong Craft, a game by Chinese developer 37Games. The game is an RPG but also features SLG and players fight for themselves and their states during the 3-kingdom period of China. The game is a triumph for localization efforts as a game very specific to the Asian market that is clearly succeeding.
World of Wacraft Movie to Screen Early in China
The movie based on Blizzard’s World of Warcraft will be opening in China on June 8th, two full days before it screens in the US. It’s estimated that about half of WoW’s remaining five million players are located in China. China’s movie-goer attendance rates have been questioned in recent months but we suspect that this one will actually attract the WoW and Warcraft fans throughout the country.
The Olympics of eSports
In an effort to bring together eSports in a similar fashion to the Olympics, the International eGames Committee has named an advisory board to help organize the event. What is anticipated to be a two-day event in Rio during the Olympics will showcase teams from the UK, US, Brazil and Canada. We are surprised that there are no teams or delegates included from Asia thus far, given that China is now the largest digital games market in the world.
Niko Partner’s Latest Online Games Market Report
Check out this article by VentureBeat highlighting some of the topics in our most recent research study, Chinese Online Games Market Report & Forecast – including the fact that we estimate online gaming will be worth over $20 billion by the year 2020.
China Introduces Fourth Domestic Telecom Operator
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) of China has approved a new broadcast network to become the country’s fourth domestic telecom operator. According to en.people.cn, “The approval is said to would bring business opportunities in the smart home entertainment market.” We are looking forward to seeing how this affects the other state-owned telecom operators in the future and if we will begin to see more specializations within each operator.
Niko Partners on Twitter
Follow us on Twitter @nikochina to see these comments in real time as we publish them! Here are a few of our tweets from last week:
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