January 2, 2024

Update

China's latest gaming crackdown: What's new and what it means for mobile's biggest game makers

The introduction of spending limits and bans on everything from regular login rewards to gacha gaming mechanics have thrown China's gaming giants into chaos

December 22, 2023

Tumble Guys

Tencent and NetEase lose $80 billion in market value as China cracks down on game monetisation tactics

New rules prohibit daily login rewards, first-time purchase bonuses and rewards for repeat spend

December 18, 2023

Esports Glory

China's Wolves wins $1 million Call of Duty: Mobile World Championship

Runner-up GodLike becomes most successful Indian team in the competition after finishing second

December 18, 2023

Impressive Growth

China's gaming industry bounces back with over $42.6 billion in domestic revenue

The Red Dragon's video games market has successfully bounced back, overcoming challenges in foreign markets

December 13, 2023

Support From Supercell

Supercell co-founder supports $1.6M funding round in Chinese publisher MyGamez

Supercell co-founder Mikko Kodisoja, Small Giant Games co-founder Timo Soininen, Reworks co-founder Ilkka Teppo and former Riot China head of operations Daniel Wang are on board

December 8, 2023

Highest Earners

Chinese mobile publishers see an end of year revenue turnaround despite industry challenges

Tencent dominates, but other publishers are also finding success with Chinese companies holding 37 of the top 100 global revenue rankings for November

December 8, 2023

Dance The Blues

Crunch time for ByteDance's gaming ambitions

Big tech pulls back from gaming again

November 27, 2023

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

November 22, 2023

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

November 13, 2023

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

November 13, 2023

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%

November 13, 2023

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

November 7, 2023

Mobile Report

China generated over $42 billion in mobile user spend in 2023

Mobile ad spend is projected to hit $362 billion this year

November 3, 2023

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

October 24, 2023

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

October 24, 2023

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

October 23, 2023

Trends

Chinese gaming trends revealed as 52% of the population play games

Trends, censorship, approvals, mixed genre games and more come under the microscope

October 19, 2023

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

October 17, 2023

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

October 13, 2023

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

October 12, 2023

Industry Investigations

India arrests Vivo smartphone executives in latest China retaliation

Vivo has previously come under investigation in a money laundering probe

October 10, 2023

September Success

China’s top publishers generated $1.96 billion this September

39 out of 100 top publishers were based in China last month

October 3, 2023

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

September 29, 2023

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

September 28, 2023

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

September 28, 2023

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

September 26, 2023

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

September 26, 2023

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

September 25, 2023

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

September 22, 2023

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

September 21, 2023

Indian Market

Indian gaming market set to generate $868 million in revenue in 2023

96.8% of Indian gamers play on smartphone or tablets

September 20, 2023

Announcements

Tencent teases competitor to NetEase's Eggy Party

The Fall Guys/Stumble Guys-inspired title has been a big hit for NetEase

September 18, 2023

Gaming In China

miHoYo and NetEase block Alipay payments on iOS

iOS users were also banned from recharging via Alipay

September 13, 2023

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

September 12, 2023

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

September 11, 2023

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

September 7, 2023

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

September 6, 2023

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

September 5, 2023

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

September 1, 2023

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

August 17, 2023

Milestones

Crystal of Atlan is ByteDance’s first homegrown success story

The game is their first major hit that was developed in-house

August 14, 2023

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

August 11, 2023

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

August 11, 2023

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

August 10, 2023

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

August 9, 2023

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

August 7, 2023

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

August 3, 2023

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

August 2, 2023

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

August 1, 2023

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