Dance The Blues
Crunch time for ByteDance's gaming ambitions
Big tech pulls back from gaming again
1999 Reasons To Play
Bluepoch’s debut time travel game Reverse: 1999 reaches $15 million
The latest Chinese gacha game is coming out of stealth with impressive early figures
Predicting Prosperity
China’s gaming rebound is go and on track for $47.8 billion revenue this year
Niko Partners projects a 5.2% YoY rise in gaming revenue
Meta Manoeuvres
Tencent backs Meta’s VR push into China after a 14 year ban
Meta and Tencent are teaming up to bring a new lower-spec VR headset to China, pitched between Quest 2 and 3
Uk Acquisitions
BFI: More than 50% of UK games developers are now owned by overseas entities
The US accounts for 49% of overseas transactions followed by China’s 15%
Publishing Power
Top Chinese publishers accounted for 38.7% of October’s mobile revenue
Tencent, NetEase and miHoYo continue to triumph and Goat Games rises up the ranks
Mobile Report
China generated over $42 billion in mobile user spend in 2023
Mobile ad spend is projected to hit $362 billion this year
Five New Games
New release roundup: The best new mobile games from time travelling Brits to cat rescuers
We highlight five new games that have broken cover and are all set to do big business
Sales Success
Bilibili passes 300m monthly users as Dead Cells hits five million Chinese sales
Five million paid installs in two years, with a big boost this August
Roblox Reduction
Roblox China faces layoffs as the company undergoes "evaluation"
It's safe to say that the launch of the Chinese version of Roblox, LuoBuLesi, didn’t quite go to plan
Trends
Chinese gaming trends revealed as 52% of the population play games
Trends, censorship, approvals, mixed genre games and more come under the microscope
Dirty Deals?
Apple sacks App Store staff in China over potential deals with game developers
Free meals, nightclub outings and more were offered to iOS app store staff
China Vs Apple
Tim Cook makes a surprise appearance at Chinese Honor of Kings tournament
The unexpected live appearance comes amid a turbulent period for Apple’s relations with China
China
Swedish-based Flamebait Games sees pay-to-play mobile title Passepartout receive 100k downloads in China
The ISBN licence for the game apparently took almost four years
Industry Investigations
India arrests Vivo smartphone executives in latest China retaliation
Vivo has previously come under investigation in a money laundering probe
September Success
China’s top publishers generated $1.96 billion this September
39 out of 100 top publishers were based in China last month
An Apple A Day
Apple's App Store steps into line to comply with Chinese regulations
The company has previously come under fire for the Chinese government, but it appears it's ready to play ball
Alternative App Stores
Who are the 26 app stores complying with China’s latest regulations?
The country’s latest crackdown has seen alternative app stores become even more prominent in the Chinese market
League Of Its Own
League of Legends: Wild Rift reaches lofty $1 billion across 111 million downloads
data.ai suggests such a milestone was reached through optimisation of touch controls and quick matches
Chinese App Market
Apple isn’t complying with China’s new app store regulations
The Cyberspace Administration of China has named 26 app stores complying with its new rules
Success In China
MapleStory M surpassed $55 million in its first 35 days on the Chinese market
The game’s success in China pushed the game over $600 million in lifetime revenue
Licence List
Chinese licence approvals are on the up this September, but just how high?
September matches top month of 2023 with 89 new game approvals
Chairman Comes
miHoYo co-founder Cai Haoyu steps down as chairman… Liu Wei steps up
Cai Haoyu will focus on research and development to push the company forward
Clampdown
Uma Musume Pretty Derby yanked from Chinese app stores two weeks after launch
The game's sudden withdrawal may be due to the gambling connection of its horse racing themes
Indian Market
Indian gaming market set to generate $868 million in revenue in 2023
96.8% of Indian gamers play on smartphone or tablets
Announcements
Tencent teases competitor to NetEase's Eggy Party
The Fall Guys/Stumble Guys-inspired title has been a big hit for NetEase
Gaming In China
miHoYo and NetEase block Alipay payments on iOS
iOS users were also banned from recharging via Alipay
Chinese Market
Which games ruled the Chinese market in August?
More than fifty new games were released in the world’s biggest mobile gaming market over the month
Industry Insight
China dominates among the top 100 global mobile publishers
40 of the top 100 publishers in August 2023 were from China - three more than in July
Success In China
The Chinese mobile game markets generated $3 billion in July 2023
The sector saw a 50% year-on-year increase in revenue
Chinese Restrictions
China bans iPhones and other foreign-branded mobile phones for government officials
The move appears carefully timed, impacting Apple's share price pre-iPhone 15 reveal
Chinese App Stores
China’s app stores begin compliance with China’s latest regulations
Tencent and Xiaomi are among the app store owners now complying with the government’s regulations
Approvals Arrive
China approved 31 foreign games in August
2023's year-so-far exceeds 2022's total as The Lord of the Rings and One Piece mobile games get the go ahead
Garena Free Fire
Garena Free Fire returns to Indian app stores on September 5
The title was banned in the country in 2022 due to national security concerns
Milestones
Crystal of Atlan is ByteDance’s first homegrown success story
The game is their first major hit that was developed in-house
Insights
How Genshin Impact's devs were driven to tears
MiHoYo's president reveals how comparisons to Nintendo's Zelda Breath of the Wild were a major concern pre-release
Week That Was
Week in Views - What caught our eyes in the last seven days
The Pocketgamer.biz team take their pick of this weeks big news including developer hardships, IP disputes and China's ongoing war against games
Chinese Restrictions
China’s game restrictions aren't working
A new study by Nature Human Behaviour has found that players are willing and able to circumvent restrictions
Sensor Tower Report
37 of July's top 100 mobile game publishers came from China
Chinese publishers accounted for nearly $2 billion for the month
Regulations
China’s game licencing system to be extended to all mobile applications
Companies will need to either have a branch in China or work with Chinese companies in order to publish apps
Genre Report
Arena and adventure games are set to exceed $4.7 billion in revenue in 2023
The post-apocalyptic genre saw a significant surge in downloads
Gaming In China
China’s gaming market climbed by 20% in July
July offered strong evidence for a rebound in the country’s gaming market
Chinese Restrictions
China to implement new restrictions on children's smartphone use
Just when it looked like China legislation was opening up, new moves to restrict the market are afoot
Mihoyo Milestone
MiHoYo makes $8 billion in user spending with 73% from Genshin Impact
Honkai: Star Rail makes up 6% of the total in just a few months
China Licensing
Is China's gaming output back on track?
With 88 new licences granted, could the country’s regulatory issues be coming to an end?
Data.ai Report
In-app spending hit a record $67.5 billion in the first half of 2023
Mobile spend has returned to growth following declines in 2022
Releases
NetEase’s newly-released Justice Online tops the iOS App Store charts
The game was previously tipped to use AI for character dialogue at certain points
Goliath Games
June’s three most lucrative mobile games all came from China
Sensor Tower reports on the 10 biggest revenue generators worldwide
Making Money
From Peak Speed to Honkai: Star Rail – who to watch in the Chinese games market
Sensor Tower’s June report reveals 39 of top 100 global publishers come from China
Regulation
South Korean game regulatory agency investigated for corruption
An investigation took place as a result of petition by players of gacha titles affected by unpopular age-rating changes