The information unveiled in this article of Huxiu comes from idle chatters with many professionals in the mobile gaming industry. It may serve as a light reading on a weekend. But to Chinese CPs targeting foreign markets, knowing some idiosyncrasies of players abroad might help loosen their purse strings.
Japan
Key Words: Keen Collectors
Japan has a deep-rooted culture for gaming and its development. A recent report shows that an average Japanese mobile player spends around 3000 yen (approximately 200 yuan) every month on games. The younger generation finds it totally acceptable to pay for their favourite games, which help them relieve from an overstressed life. They are fond of collecting cards in games, which is why the Million Arthur, which only receives a lukewarm response in China, is among the best-sellers in Japan.
Russia
Keywords: Tablet Game Player
According to App Annie, Russia the wonderland has a totally reverse share of tablet and smartphone users, compared to the rest of the world. Russian players tend to enjoy their games on tablet computers, which are used to download far more games than mobile phones, for it’s quite a suffering for bulky Russian gamers to mess around with a tiny mobile phone screen. Besides, the author was told by the CEO of Tap4Fun that Russian gamers behave extremely similar to their Chinese counterparts. So, Russia could be a promising starting point for those CPs working on tablet games.
The Middle East
Keywords: Unconventional Beverly Hillbillies
To put it simply, the haves in this area, only interested in buying luxury cars, rarely spend time on mobile games. However, the author has been told that the Middle East is usually a capricious market, as gamers sometimes don’t mind splashing out a little bit. According to a card game CP, the MENA market has 300,000 concurrent users and 11.8 million daily active users, which still has a large potential for growth. By the way, they love social MMOG!
Korea
Keywords: Fast Internet
Thanks to the highly developed urban infrastructures, mobile games in Korea and Japan have become an integrated part of people’s life. They have long been enjoying 4G+ internet, omnipresent WiFi, and public areas ideal for gaming. In Korea, LTE has reached a speed of 150M/s, three times faster than in the US. With a 65% smartphone ownership in Korea, it’s no wonder that our Korean friends complain about our snail-paced internet every time they come to China. You can’t blame them. Would you download a 200M game in a non-WiFi condition?
Brazil & India
Keywords: High Download, Low Payment
Game developing industry in South America has started to emerge just since this year, with Brazil taking the lead. The area is definitely a land of opportunity, entering a new era of national internet infrastructure construction. The number of players has surprisingly reached 40 million in the country, where only 50% of the population have access to Internet. However, discretion is strongly suggested, judging by three factors as follows.
First up, although the total download looks pretty optimistic, Brazilians’ game payment lags far behind. They’re reluctant to pay for games. Secondly, skyrocketing taxation in Brazil requires employer to pay 100% tax in addition to employee’s wage, which raises the operating costs even higher than that in the US, Canada or Australia. Finally, pirating. Therefore, the free mode definitely is a perfect fit for Brazilian gamers. Whereas India, a globally recognized software giant, has been a dwarf in computer penetration. Only 10% of the population own a computer in India, where Internet bandwidth is even worse than in China.
Nevertheless, Indian game market has gradually begun to draw some attention recently, as Disney, Ubisoft and EA have started merger and acquisition of game developers in the world’s second populous country. Zynga also has a studio in India. Local developers are growing as well. That leaves India only two urgent problems to address: computer penetration and Internet upgrade.
Vietnam
Keywords: Chinese Theme
In 2012, gaming industry in Vietnam raked in 250 million USD, in which mobile gaming accounted for 35 million. Boomz has become a national game in Vietnam. Most of its mobile gamer population live in Ho Chi Ming City and Hanoi. They love MMORPG, have a good habit of paying for their games (90% paying players), and use iOS more. Chinese games are very welcome by mobile game players in Vietnam.
Thailand
Keywords: Gamble
As an important market in South East Asia, Thailand’s gaming industry made 400 million USD in 2012, including 30% from iOS and Android. Since people in Thailand are born gamblers, betting games like Texas Poker are always leading the market.
Indonesia
Keywords: Emerging Market, Social Games
Latest data shows a quarter of Indonesian netizens are keen on online games and nearly half of gamers have opted to log in via mobile devices, which is a hint for opportunities in this emerging market. Currently there are 160 million mobile device users in Indonesia, who are very willing to communicate with others and socialize via online gaming.
Europe and the US
Keywords: Quality of Game
An American gamer told me that Chinese developers focus too much on making money, while western gamers care more about the quality of the game itself. Chinese players make purchases in the game to acquire a higher ranking, while western gamers only pays for more fun. However, the author has met another American player who recently splurged an astonishing 130,000 bucks for Clash of Clan.
Here are some other interesting facts: In Hong Kong, Candy Crush Saga is so popular that you can often see a grandpa playing in an elevator. An average Australian has three mobile devices to play games on. New Zealanders pay a lot for games. Recently in Taiwan, Google Play online payment has been made available, causing a sharp rise in mobile gaming revenue. However, as game licensing in Taiwan has almost been monopolized by one company, it’s quite challenging to enter the market. Anyway, game developers and publishers should aim at the western market. Think about Clash of Clan, which has not done any promotion in China but has always been a top ten best-seller. Its publisher has invested all its money in the US. The game has already secured 200 million loyal players. Therefore, no matter how the market perform, the most critical element is and always will be the quality of the game.