Reports

China’s mobile gaming market - including both single-player and mobile online games – continued to record strong growth in the latter half of H1 2014, on the back of Q1 2014 revenues of RMB 4.7 billion (USD 0.8 billion), up 19% QoQ, and Q1 user base growth of 8% QoQ to approximately 420 million. Robust uptake of low-cost smartphones and 3G mobile services, the recent launch of 4G services, greater use of content adapted from popular films, TV series, and novels to enhance user interest, and market entry by a host 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), up from 2013’s market size of RMB 13 billion (USD 2.2 billion).

Q2 2014 saw competition among internet giants in the mobile game distribution space ratchet increasingly higher. Looking to catch up with market leaders Baidu, Qihoo 360, and Tencent, which in Q1 held over 72% of China's mobile game distribution market by active users, Alibaba acquired the remaining 34% stake in UCWeb in June and formed the UCWeb Business Group, overseeing operation of UCWeb's 9game mobile game distribution platform and PP Assistant app store. NetEase and Sina’s Weibo also joined the fray during the quarter, launching game centers on their YiChat and mobile Weibo clients, respectively.

Mobile gaming assets continued to attract strong investor interest, with at least seven domestic mobile gaming M&A deals announced in Q2 2014; among them, at least 3 of the acquirers were from traditional industries unrelated to mobile, such as hotel management, pipe manufacturing, and apparel. While mobile gaming firm Chukong decided to postpone its IPO due to a low valuation from US capital markets, rival Ourgame successfully listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange at the end of June.

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 Q2 2014 edition of the Matrix provides details on over 130 leading mobile game companies and over 360 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 25 mobile app/game distribution platforms, including:

• Platform Operator Name
• Investment Received (available for ~45% of platforms)
• Number of Apps Hosted (available for ~45% of platforms; dates vary)
• User Base (available for ~70% of platforms; dates vary)
• Cumulative or Daily App Downloads (available for ~50% of platforms; dates vary)
• Revenue Share Ratio with Developers (available for ~60% of platforms)
• Business Model (available for ~30% of platforms)

In addition, the matrix provides a Q2 summary of Chinese mobile gaming industry news covering:

• M&A and Internal Investment Deals (19 items)
• Partnerships (17 items)

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