NetEase’s New VR Title
NetEase announced the title of its new mobile game – Ming Yun Qi Yuan (Origin of Destiny), which is going to be shown this week at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco. This is the first future-themed MMORPG from NetEase and it supports VR, something we are seeing a lot of already this year.
Baofeng Acquires 3 Entertainment Companies in China
Beijing Baofeng Technology Co. Ltd. (300431.SZ), the controversial entertainment company whose IPO rise on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange shocked many followers, is now going to spend RMB 3 billion to acquire three different entertainment companies: Straw Bear Pictures (television program production and distribution), Gump Tech (game distribution and marketing), and Lidong (online game development, distribution and operation).
Virtual Reality (VR) at GDC
The main thing we’re hearing this year at GDC is VR, VR, and more VR. Jesse Schell, a game designer we have respected over the years, gave 40 predictions for game technologies coming up this year. We highly recommend you check out the full recap because as Schell says, VR isn’t some fad – it is here to stay and VR headsets will be in the market permanently starting this year. One of his most notable predictions: by the end of 2018, a new VR-centric game genre will appear.
Chinese Investment in Korean Game Companies
Korean games have always had a prominent place in the Chinese gaming market, starting with the Legend of Mir games and continuing into present day across mobile and online game platforms. Chinese gaming companies have picked up on this trend and now pushing further into the Korean market itself by establishing strategic partnerships. Tencent in particular has invested over US $440 million in Netmarble Games, $108 million into 4:33 Creative Lab and $16 million into PATI Games. More recently, NHN Entertainment Corp. is selling its stake in Webzen to China’s Ourpalm.
According to Shanda Games and Tencent, The Legend of Mir is still earning its keep as a brand in China and earns around $100 million a month in China, with the best day pulling in $7 million in revenue.
Vietnam’s Growing Game Market
Niko Partners first started publishing our annual Southeast Asia Online Game Market report in 2011, noting that Vietnam (along with Indonesia and Thailand) would be one of the most intriguing opportunities for online game publishers over the coming years. This article on Vietnam Net gives an overview of some of the main game developers in the region to date, some of the challenges they face, but also some of the rewarding aspects of publishing games in Vietnam.
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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