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East Meets West: Chinese regulator starts approving new games, China debates long working hours, and Perfect World is world's top grosser

Keeping up with the news from the world's most influential games market

East Meets West: Chinese regulator starts approving new games, China debates long working hours, and Perfect World is world's top grosser

The Asia market has become the most lucrative and influential region in the global mobile games industry.

Companies in countries such as Japan, South Korea and China are highly successful at home and are increasingly expanding around the world through global game releases, international partnerships and M&A. These markets also offer lucrative opportunities for Western publishers.

To give you a deeper insight into this key region, each week we’re rounding up all the news from PocketGamer.biz and around the web. Don't forget to keep up with the news throughout the week on the Asia section of our site.

Got any news leads about the Asia market you'd like to share? Email PocketGamer.biz senior editor Craig Chapple at craig.chapple@steelmedia.co.uk.

You can gain more insights into the Asia markets on the East Meets West track at Pocket Gamer Connects Seattle, which takes place on May 13th to 14th. PGC will be heading to Hong Kong on July 17th to 18th. We're also hosting a free London-based 'East Meets West' mini-summit for the games industry on Wednesday, May 29th in association with Mintegral.

Tencent, NetEase, Giant Interactive and Super Evil Megacorp head first wave of speakers at Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong 2019

Some big names are already attached for the first-ever Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong in what's shaping up to be a stellar show.

China’s games regulator resumes new submission approvals as it continues through backlog

China's games regulator is now reviewing both new and old submissions from its backlog simultaneously, opening up this key industry market further following last year's big freeze. But with this good news also comes a number of new regulations that will also see the number of releases each year limited.

Chinese activists 996.ICU blast Tencent and NetEase for intense overtime policies

The issue of overtime and crunch isn't isolated to Western studios, China is covering waging a national debate on the issue of '996' - working 9am to 9pm six days a week.

Tencent’s Perfect World was the top grossing mobile game globally in March 2019

It's no secret that Perfect World has been performing well for Tencent, as we've previously reported its top grossing chart positions in China in recent times. Now SuperData estimates that it was in fact the top grossing mobile game in the world in March, above the likes of Honor of Kings, Candy Crush Saga and Pokemon Go.

South Korean FTC will carry out an “extensive review” of consumer regulations

The freshly announced review from South Korea's Fair Trade Commission will largely focus on underage users spending money on in-game transactions.

Indian esports platform Mobile Premier League raises $35.5 million

Investors believe in the potential for competitive gaming in India enough to pump $35.5 million into esports platform Mobile Premier League.

Nintendo mobile division sales up 17% to $412m in FY2019

Nintendo's mobile business continues to grow, this time thanks to the addition of Dragalia Lost to its portfolio. The console giant will be hoping for more though with the upcoming releases of Dr Mario World and Mario Kart Tour.

Mobile picks up $65m of PUBG Corp's $920m sales in 2018

PUBG continued to be a big revenue driver in 2018, particularly on PC. PUBG Corp will hope however that it finally gets the greenlight for its mobile titles in China to monetise, to boost up platform's revenue share.

Keywords snaps up work-for-hire mobile development studio Wizcorp for $1m

Services provider Keywords has acquired another company, this time Tokyo-based mobile game developer outsourcer Wizcorp.

King of Avalon and Guns of Glory rake in over $1.3 billion in revenue for Funplus

The Chinese MMO developer has had big success King of Avalon and Guns of Glory, with the title's making $721 million and $510 respectively.

China's biggest live-streaming platform Douyu files for $500 million IPO in the US

The Tencent-backed streaming platform, based in China, is to go public in the US.

Tencent extends its digital lock age cap to 16 in China

The Chinese publisher has raised the digital lock on Chinese users from under 13s to 16. The measure limits the amount of game time users get a day, in line with the country's regulations.

Nepal Supreme Court suspends PUBG ban

Playerunknown's Battlegrounds Nepal ban was short lived after the country's Supreme Court found the order to not be reasonable.

Qualcomm partners with Tencent and Vivo to create new AI game experiences on mobile

Project Animation is a big partnership between Qualcomm, Tencent and Vivo to optimise game performance and the user experience through artificial intelligence.

Weekly global mobile games charts: Tencent’s Let’s Hunt Monsters storms China’s free downloads rankings

 

Head of Content

Craig Chapple is a freelance analyst, consultant and writer with specialist knowledge of the games industry. He has previously served as Senior Editor at PocketGamer.biz, as well as holding roles at Sensor Tower, Nintendo and Develop.