In my new article, I am sharing some insights learned from GMGC Beijing.
GMGC Beijing, one of the fastest growing and largest game events in China just ended last week.
The conference brought together 15,318 attendees traveling from 38 countries and 6,200 companies from various disciplines in the game industry.
Attendance Information (Source: GMGC Beijing 2017)
The conference generated many insights for the industry which I would like to share something about some key regional markets you could consider and some new technology trends here:
On Key Regional Markets
Southeast Asia:
Southeast Asia is a promising segmented market including 6 largest markets - Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore. Each requires its unique market approach.
Those markets are so different to the general English speaking markets. As I mentioned in my previous article (*), the understanding of game players goes deeper over time and they are aware that what they actually need is localization instead of simply translating the content of the game into another language. Art style, game design, monetization, and other uncertainties of that local market shall all be taken into account when you want to explore the new area. For example, for Southeast Asia market, third party payment options are required to succeed with low credit card penetration. Learning that kind of facts is important, and that’s why a good partner and a right channel is the key to the gate of new markets.
JX Mobile (https://jxqy.qq.com/main.shtml) is a success story, which expanded to Vietnam market in 2016 and went viral.
Southeast Asia Market Discussion in GMGC Beijing 2017
MENA:
Arabic is one of the most spoken languages, but there are only less than 1% of the mobile games in Arabic, which makes it a potential new market to explore. First person shooting and soccer games are popular within the MENA region, and Chinese games that are appropriately localized are also well received.
That’s a good insight to our developers in China. Same to our Western developers who are thinking about the China market. If they are working on the right game, there could be an even larger market out there.
Europe:
Poland and Estonia are emerging in the industry and can be considered as the stepping stones to the European market, while Germany, Finland, and the United Kingdom continue to be the strongest markets in the region. In general, E-sports tournaments are increasingly popular in Europe.
On Technology
Live Streaming:
Live streaming will be the next target for internet companies in China. In 2016, live streaming was a big hit and attracted investors looking for niche platforms and projects that integrate with IP, entertainment, games, and sports.
Live streaming is not something new to the game industry. There are tons of gamers doing live streaming on Youtube or Twitter to earn their living and now China market also emerges and grows into a large market. I would like to see a more integrated way between gaming and live streaming. I don’t see the answer yet, but facebook is definitely moving in the right direction (**).
Artificial Intelligence:
Artificial intelligence can be a very effective alternative to some of the repetitive works. Entertainment is another area that many Internet companies will focus on, using artificial intelligence technology to create entertaining content. Seasun is also applying procedural generation in our game production to present a vivid game world.
If you had missed this year’s GMGC Beijing, you can visit their website or go to their youtube channel to watch the speeches and sessions.
Reference:
* Why Successful Games in China Rarely Obtain the Equivalent Success in the West
** Facebook Live adds PC game and desktop live streaming
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Seasun is a leading Chinese online games publisher focused on creating high quality games/game engines that push the boundaries of player experience in action entertainment. The company is also involved in small-medium sized investments for game studios worldwide. We have recently started up our U.S. studio in Redwood City, CA to create top quality content for the western market.
Seasun has shipped many successful titles, including the popular MMORPG series JX (http://jx3.xoyo.com/), the MMOARPG titles First Myth (http://fs.xoyo.com/index1) and CQ (http://cq.xoyo.com/), along with our FPS MAT (http://xd.xoyo.com/). The “JX” series has grossed more than $250 million and has achieved a daily active user count of 3.3 million. We are currently building a special team of highly talented people to create the technology for our next-generation MMOARPG at this studio.
Founded in 2015 and based in San Francisco’s East Bay, Magic Fuel Games is focusing on developing games that capture the imagination of players. With a core team of industry veterans, bringing decades of development and AAA experience from games that have captivated gamers around the world. The company's Series A was funded by Seasun Inc in February 2016 and has been growing its team and developing its 1st product since then.
Kingsoft, Seasun’s parent company, is publicly traded in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (SEHK: 3888) with market value of 3.8 billion USD. Kingsoft has created 3 other subsidiaries alongside Seasun: Cheetah Mobile (NYSE: CMCM), WPS Office, and Kingsoft Cloud Service. Kingsoft has over 4,000 employees worldwide.
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