Korea’s Mobile Game Market

Korea’s Ministry of Culture announced its estimate of the historical size of the Korean mobile game market from 2010 and 2013 as follows, though no projection for the future was included:

2010 – KRW 316.7 billion (310,796,712 USD)
2011 – KRW 423.6 billion (415,704,096 USD)
2012 – KRW 800.9 billion (785,971,224 USD)
2013 – KRW 1311.9 billion (1,287,446,184 USD)

Retailers of the Xbox One in China

At the end of April, Microsoft announced that Xbox One will be available in China this September, and Microsoft will cooperate with BesTV to manufacture the product. Microsoft has not yet announced the price and retail channel. However, some retailers can’t resist disclosing their participation in the channel.

Recently Carrefour has announced on its website about the September launch of Xbox One. Carrefour has 236 stores in 73 cities in China, providing a wide area for retail sales. In late May, Su Ning and Jing Dong started to recruit fans for Xbox Club, implying that these two retail chains will also be part of Xbox One’s Chinese channel.

Tencent Enters Film Industry

Tencent is expanding even more, this time into movies, as identified by Marbridge Daily:

“Chinese internet and mobile services firm Tencent’s (0700.HK) Tencent Video business has announced plans to enter the film industry. The company will invest in 6 films in 2014, including Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal, an upcoming Chinese adventure film directed by Zhao Tianyu. Tencent VP Sun Zhonghuai has revealed that Tencent is considering future investments in film-related games, literature, music, virtual items, and merchandise.”

E3 2014

E3 is an exhibition that devotes most of the attention to consoles and console games, and these images provide some data on what the big three console makers had to show in LA this year at E3 2014.

In China, many people are eagerly awaiting the impact of legally sold game consoles on the overall games market. Microsoft and Sony have announced that the Xbox One and PS4 will launch there, but Nintendo has not confirmed a launch. However, Nintendo had a strong showing at E3 by many accounts, and it already has a JV in Suzhou with iQue making domestic consoles. Nintendo GameCube and Wii both had very strong sales in China via the grey market for several years of the 14-year ban on consoles.

Some of the Chinese game companies were in attendance at E3, including market leader Tencent. Other important games in China, such as Riot’s League of Legends, operated by Tencent, were not on display at all. The big show that highlights China’s market is ChinaJoy, to take place this year at the end of July in Shanghai. We have been told by the show’s organizers that the major focus will be on mobile games, the fastest growth segment in China’s games market by far.