Invested
Tencent invests $318 million in Chinese video-sharing company Bilibili
Publisher acquires 12.3 per cent of shares in a company that dabbles in running League of Legends and Overwatch esports teams
Sales Out
NetEase’s PUBG-like Rules of Survival bags $75 million
Another battle royale success for the publisher alongside Knives Out
Big Brother
Tencent tests facial recognition to restrict gameplay time in Honor of Kings
Chinese publisher wants to check identity and age of players
Business Shuffle
Tencent restructures business for first time in six years as games regulations bite
Publishing giant setting itself up for future challenges
Global Charts
Weekly global mobile game charts: Snake Vs Colors cracks top spot on US App Store while China's top grossing gets a shakeup
Google Play and App Store rankings in the US, Great Britain and Ireland, and China for the week of September 17th to 23rd
Acquisition News
Chinese tutoring services provider snaps up chidren's apps developer Dr. Panda
Companies to work on "new models for future education"
Global Charts
Weekly global mobile game charts: Voodoo and Lion Studios battle it out for top spots
Google Play and App Store rankings in the US, Great Britain and Ireland, and China for the week of September 10th to 16th
Banned
China bans games streaming platform Twitch
The ban comes after the site experienced a popularity spike
Business News
Hong Kong’s Apptutti signs new partnership to help Korean devs access China games market
Support services localised for Korean speakers
Guide To China
China's temporary games approval freeze - Your key questions answered
Niko Partners offers a complete breakdown of the current market situation in China and who it's likely to affect
Cube
Tencent and LEGO unveil mobile open-sandbox game LEGO Cube for China
The open-sandbox game is set for release late 2018
Global Charts
Weekly global mobile game charts: Lion Studios rules the roost in China, UK and US
Google Play and App Store rankings in the US, Great Britain and Ireland, and China for the week of September 3rd to 9th
Monetisation Blow
China's regulatory roadblocks stop most downloaded game PUBG Mobile from making money
Despite 100 million downloads and 50 million active users, there are no IAPs
Hot Trends
China mobile game trends H1 2018: Honor of Kings and PUBG Mobile top the grossing and download charts
Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad delves into what the first six months of 2018 tell us about the Chinese mobile games market
China
It could take another four-to-six months for China to start approving new games again
Governmental restructure may see the region’s normally-booming market frozen for another half year.
Fold
Tencent axes poker game as China tightens the leash on gaming
Servers for “Everyday Texas Hold’Em” will go offline on September 25th
China
A third of the Chinese population is playing mobile games
China’s 459 million large mobile audience rivals the total population of Japan and the US combined
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