Reports

China’s mobile gaming market - including both single-player and mobile online games – boomed in 2013, with revenues of approximately RMB 13 billion (USD 2.2 billion) and a user base exceeding 350 million. Strong uptake of low-cost smartphones and 3G mobile services, the recent launch of 4G services, and a mushrooming of new mobile game developers, operators, and distribution platforms will help drive robust growth in 2014 to an estimated market size of RMB 20 billion (USD 3.3 billion).

Competition in China’s mobile game distribution market intensified in Q1 2014, with new players from among China’s Internet giants entering the market and existing distributors offering developers more attractive revenue share and marketing policies. Of note, Alibaba joined the game distribution fray, while rivals Tencent, Qihoo 360 and Baidu announced a variety of initiatives to promote and attract more small and medium-sized game developers. Telecom operator China Mobile also lowered registered capital requirements for individual game developers in a bid to draw more developers and games to its platform.

As competition escalates, efforts to acquire and protect intellectual property rights have also grown strategically more important, with China seeing a rise in Q1 2014 in the number of mobile game adaptation rights deals and a slew of IPR infringement suits.

To help investors and game industry enterprises identify opportunities among China’s burgeoning number of mobile game titles, developers, operators, and distribution channels, Marbridge has developed the Chinese Mobile Gaming Industry Matrix. The Q1 2014 edition of the Matrix provides details on over 110 leading mobile game companies and over 300 of the top games in Excel (read-only) format:

• Listing Status (public, to list, private)
• Location (city in which operator/developer is headquartered)
• Company Homepage URL
• Company Contact Phone Number
• Experience in Overseas Game Publishing (specific examples available for ~15% of companies)
• Games Operated/Developed (with top grossing games highlighted)
• Game Environment (Android, iOS, WP)
• Game Type
• Game Dates (expected release, beta test, commercial launch)
• Game Source (self-developed vs. licensed)
• Revenue Model (pay-to-play vs. in-game items)
• Game Operation Statistics (DAU, monthly revenue, cumulative downloads - as available)
• Game Homepage URL

The Chinese Mobile Gaming Industry Matrix also provides data on China’s top 24 mobile app/game distribution platforms, including:

• Platform Operator Name
• Investment Received (available for ~33% of platforms)
• Number of Apps Hosted (available for ~42% of platforms; dates vary)
• User Base (available for ~67% of platforms; dates vary)
• Cumulative or Daily App Downloads (available for ~54% of platforms; dates vary)
• Revenue Share Ratio with Developers (available for ~50% of platforms)
• Business Model (available for ~33% of platforms)

In addition, the matrix provides a Q1 summary of Chinese mobile gaming industry news covering:

• M&A Deals (18 items)
• Partnerships (13 items)

The Chinese Mobile Gaming Industry Matrix is available either for one-off purchase or on a subscription basis with quarterly updates.