The competitive ecosystem of PUBG
We never would have predicted that a chicken could represent the battle royale genre. Do you know how to say “winner winner, chicken dinner” in Chinese? Thanks to the multiplayer game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), the answer now blankets the Chinese internet: 大吉大利，今晚吃鸡 (“Luck be with you, tonight we are eating chicken.”) The article linked below, that we discovered via our friends at https://sinocism.com/, takes a look at China’s Chicken Dinner games (battle royale games) and how the genre has taken off.
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Southeast Asia snapshot
Southeast Asia’s mobile games market is booming, representing a lucrative opportunity for mobile developers and publishers in the six countries that make up the region: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Huge numbers of avid gamers, lower user acquisition costs, the prevalence of the English language, and a relatively open market for new entrants all make the region very attractive. The number of mobile gamers in Southeast Asia is set to grow from 170 million at the end of this year to 250 million by 2021. Likewise, revenue is projected to grow from $1.1 billion in 2017 to $2.4 billion in the same timeframe, faster than previously forecast. Our latest digital games snapshot looks at the top mobile games in the region for October 2017 and discuss the various trends in play.
We launched three reports on Southeast Asia this fall. Market size, gamer numbers, and other key takeaways from the analysis can be found here:
Taiwan Games Market Report
Southeast Asia Mobile Games Report
Southeast Asia PC Online Games Report
Tencent goes all in on Battle Royale
This week Tencent launched Glorious Mission, the company’s newest mobile battle royale game. The title, which had 35 million pre-registered users, debuted at number 1 on China’s iOS download chart. In addition to Glorious Mission, Tencent has released a battle royale mode for Crossfire mobile. On PC the company has released a battle royale mode in Call of Duty Online and has announced it will publish Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) in China. As if that isn’t enough, Tencent will also work with Bluehole on PUBG mobile version. The company has also created its own PC battle royale game called Europa. Fortnite Battle Royale is another game that Tencent will likely publish in China due to its relationship with the publisher, Epic Games.
https://www.pcgamesn.com/tencent-battle-royale-glorious-mission
https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/28/16710258/pubg-mobile-port-china-tencent
Google to set up AI team in China
Google brain co-founder Jeff Dean confirmed today that the company will establish an AI team in China, specifically in the cities of Beijing and Shanghai. This comes 7 years after Google exited China after its search engine and other services were banned. The company plans to build AI systems to forge business ties in the world’s largest online market. Earlier this year it was discovered that Google had added China as a country in the developer support section of its Google Play store, suggesting Google could be looking to re-enter the mobile app market in China too.
China to become largest film market by 2020
A new report from the SAPPRFT notes that China’s film market is expected to gross RMB 70 billion ($10.6 billion) in 2020, making it larger than Hollywood and Bollywood. With China becoming an attractive market for domestic and foreign film makers, it is projected that China will have 800 films released each year that are shown across 60,000 cinema screens by the end of the decade.
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