China
China’s gaming crackdown pushes Tencent towards further age restrictions in Honor of Kings
As part of a government campaign to prevent myopia amongst children and reduce gameplay time
Publishing Deal
Mobile internet giant Cheetah Mobile secures publishing rights for Ministry of Games' Trade Town
Cheetah Mobile beat multiple publishers to win the deal
Listed
Chinese mobile games publisher CMGE looking to raise $500 million through Hong Kong IPO
The company originally delisted from Nasdaq in 2015 in the US
Revenue
King of Avalon ventures abroad to bring in $380 million outside of China in two years
Online strategy is the third-highest grossing Chinese game in the USA
Jesus
Tencent's value plummets by $20bn after China dishes out new regulations on games
Company has lost $164bn in value since January
Restrictive Policies
China’s block on new game licenses could be coming to an end - but fresh regulations are incoming
Calls to restrict the number of new game releases
China Lockdown
What the hell is happening to games in China?
Conspiracy or cock-up?
Worldwide
How Chorus Worldwide helped indie developers to release mobile games in China
"As I’m sure everyone knows, the Google Play store is not a big player in the market. Instead, the area is dominated by local Chinese app stores"
Banned
No end in sight as South Korean games companies locked out of China for over a year
No signs of issues being resolved
Chinese Exports
Chinese games raked in more than $600 million in the US for the first half of 2018 alone
The haul was a 52 per cent increase year-on-year
Games Suspended
China hasn't approved any new mobile games since March 28th
Market sees single-digit growth in first half of the year, the slowest since at least 2009
Don’t You Mean Football?
Sociable Soccer dev Tower Studios snags China publishing deal with China Mobile
Arcade football game is will land in China first and is pencilled in for launch in Autumn 2018
Take To The Seas
Pirate Code walks away as the second Big Indie Pitch in China winner
Big Ear takes second while Hexland Heroes walks away in third
Duty Calls
Activision working with Tencent on new Call of Duty mobile game for China
Collaboration confirms a free-to-play mobile entry in the long-running first-person-shooter franchise
Market Dominance
Is the dominance of Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu stifling creativity and innovation in China?
AppBi looks into the data
Not So Improbable
NetEase invests $50m in UK tech company Improbable
Ties between Chinese publisher and SpatialOS developer deepen following partnership announced back in February
Deal
Beijing Bosi Interactive secures exclusive $740k deal with Animoca Brands to distribute Crazy Kings in China
BBI wins rights to distribute Android and HTML5 ports of the iOS strategy title, due next year
Come Say Hello
Meet the PocketGamer.biz team at ChinaJoy 2018
We'll also discuss opportunities on PCGamesInsider.biz, InfluencerUpdate.biz and BlockchainGamer.biz
All Aboard
Chinese publisher NetEase picks up minority stake in UK studio Jumpship
Developer plans to double team of six over the next year
Big Deal
China’s iQIYI acquires developer Skymoons in deal worth up to $300 million
Online video platform hopes to utilise IP across mediums
Event
Big Indie Pitch heads to ChinaJoy
International game developer competition returns to China this August
Oh The Horror
Asymmetrical Horror: NetEase on hitting 100m downloads with Identity V
"We are so proud of the results we’ve achieved!"
Spin Me Right Round
Why Chinese mobile ad tech firm Mobvista spun out its monetisation platform Mintegral
EMEA business development manager Sean Parmenter discusses the company's plans and China's advertising landscape
Mobile Game Of Thrones
Tencent snags rights to publish Game of Thrones: Winter is Coming to China
Shanghai-based developer Yoozoo originally acquired the rights from Warner Bros last year
Excellent
Oasis Games heads up $3 million investment in Austrian indie developer Iron Mountain
Beijing publisher set to snag a minority stake in the company along with publishing rights to an unannounced title
Chicken Dinner
Say hello to China’s biggest mobile gaming export so far - battle royale
Goodbye matching coloured candy, hello machine guns, silly hats and shrinking maps
Digital Sports
Chinese esports market set to reach 350 million users by 2020
Experts also expect the scene to value at $1.5 billion
Going Public
Xiaomi heads for $6bn Hong Kong IPO but shelves mainland China listing
Smartphone manufacturer rolls back reported plans to raise $10 billion
Event Report
First Chinese mobile internet global traffic exchange expo welcomes over 1,500 attendees
GTE 2018, hosted by Beluga Global, just launched in Beijing to great success
Partner Up
War Robots developer Pixonic enters China’s Android market with iDreamsky
Director of business development Mike Fei discusses the publisher's distribution model
Eyes On Korea
Why Seasun and other Chinese developers are expanding their influence over South Korea's mobile market
Seasun Games overseas business development director Zhen Li tells us why Chinese games are so popular in South Korea
Data Klaxon
Analysing player behaviour in the Chinese mobile games market
Chinese gamers are also more likely to surpass the world spending average
Competitive Investment
Tencent invests in Chinese esports tournament operator VSPN
Company already runs Honour of Kings and Clash Royale competitions
Destined To Be Partners
Destiny developer Bungie could be set for mobile push following $100m investment from NetEase
US studio could be set to explore the mobile games market
Going Public
Chinese games publisher iDreamSky plots Hong Kong IPO
Gardenscapes and Subway Surfers publisher could raise as much as $300 million
Augmented Reality
Google’s ARCore heads to China
Partners up with Xiaomi
Why Not
NetEase developing internet drama based on battle royale hit Knives Out
The Chinese tech company are also turning Onmyoji into a live action movie
Crafty
Minecraft builds up 100 million players in China since launching last year
The popular builder originally came to China in August
Netease Financials
NetEase profits tumble 20% in Q1 as Onmyoji and New Ghost lose traction
Battle royale hits Knives Out and Terminator 2: Judgement Day offset lost revenue
East To West
Chinese livestreaming platform Huya raises $180 million in US IPO
15 million shares sold at $12 each
Ouch
Tencent up against worst margins ever as value drops $78 billion
Rising costs and continued investments will strain profits
Rapid Growth
Chinese mobile games sector set to double to over $24 billion by 2022
Set to surpass PC this year
Tencent... Again
Tencent signs strategic partnership with UK's Department for International Trade
But barely a mention of video games at the event announcing the collaboration
Royale Royalty
NetEase recruits Battle Royale film scriptwriter for Knives Out
Kenta Fukasaku to build story and lore for hit mobile game
Ready To Float
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi files for world's biggest IPO since 2014
Could value company at as much as $100 billion
Top Tips
8 tips for mobile games publishing success in China
Mobvista lays out some key advice from its ‘Looking East: How to launch mobile games in China 2018’ report
Going Up
Chinese publisher 37 Interactive doubled its mobile revenue to more than $500m in 2017
Overseas revenue for mobile games also jumped up 80 per cent
China Gathering
Tencent to publish new Magic: The Gathering games in China
Deal also includes Southeast Asia territories
Mobile & Conquer
Tencent revives Red Alert game series for mobile
Red Alert Online set for China release
Heading East
Tencent backs Fortnite China release with $15 million investment
Chinese publisher plans esports push