Mobile Gaming in China: What You Should Know About the Market

The mobile gaming market in China is one of the most profitable sectors in Asia. The pandemic contributed to its growth as most people used it to cope with the lockdowns. Even pre-pandemic era, mobile gaming has become part of young Chinese’s lifestyle — from millennials to Gen Z.

Regardless of gender, social status, income, and age, gamers use different devices such as mobile phones, tablets, and personal computers. As of this writing, there are 665 million players who spend more than 278 billion yuan on video games, and the Chinese gaming market has $41 billion in revenue.

If you’re in the gaming, mobile app gaming, or app development industry, here are some of the key takeaways you should know about this market.

Mobile Gaming in China: Foreign companies enter the gaming market in two ways

According to MordIntelligence, China’s gaming market is expected to have a 14% CAGR from 2021 to 2026. Most international companies interested in entering the market take advantage of the opportunity in two ways — acquire shares from Chinese gaming vendors or sponsor professional players.

Tencent and Netease remain the major game publishers in China. In recent news, the Chinese regulators have become more lenient about policies that will affect game publishing. For example, Tencent can publish more games and Chinese regulators are set to approve 2,000 to 3,000 games.

Mobile phones are the gaming platform of young people

Mobile phones are the gaming platforms of most young people in China, ages 13 to 20. Meanwhile, the rise of eSports, which targets adults is also one of the primary reasons the market is growing. Esports allow different players to participate in competitions while everything else is broadcasted online.

82% of gamers prefer to use their smartphones, and with game publishers and app developers targeting emerging markets, they also release lite versions of games that can run on phones with low processing power.

The rise of mini-games via in-apps spurs growth

There’s also the rise of mini-games that are available on WeChat. Users can play with them via in-app and enjoy the social elements, whether playing with other users, gaining points and rewards, and more.

Players don’t need to install another application to get started, as everything else is within the realms of WeChat’s ecosystem.  Moreover, aside from playing, they also gain followers as they interact with other gamers and users.

A large number of mobile gamers are in tier-2 cities

China is experiencing growth in the mobile gaming population. Surprisingly, the large number of gamers come from tier 2 cities such as Wuhan and Chengdu.

The growth of consumption not just in gaming but also in spending corroborates the data that companies should go beyond first-tier cities and focus on tier 2 cities where most people have the buying power, whether it’s luxury goods, retail, and gaming.

The development of technologies and high-speed internet contributes to mobile gaming adoption

The affordability of the internet and continued development of infrastructure also drive growth in the mobile gaming market. With people having more access to the internet and China’s rollout of the 5G infrastructure, these increase the accessibility to technologies.

Aside from that, gaming companies, vendors, and publishers are also on the lookout for adopting cloud gaming for faster performance games in the cloud. For example, Cloud Union, a cloud gamine provider, disclosed that there are 20 million subscribers in its user base, which signifies this technology’s potential to initiate a quick gaming process in real-time.

The mobile gaming in China is exponentially growing

When it comes to mobile gaming, it is one of the biggest and most lucrative markets as of this writing. If you’re an app publisher, vendor, or gaming company, and you’re not taking advantage of the opportunities, you might be missing a lot.

You can start with small steps such as gaming localization and developing business strategies and marketing strategies to get you started on Chinese app stores.

If you need assistance, you can always reach the LIMPID team for more details.