Chinese mobile game manufacturers, please look at Google data: the real blue ocean is in the Japanese and Korean markets

199IT News: Are Europe, America and Southeast Asia really the paradise for Chinese mobile game manufacturers? The latest data from Google shows that Japan and South Korea are among the top five paid downloads on Google Play. These two countries are similar to China in terms of culture and geography, and are the blue ocean markets for Chinese mobile game manufacturers.

Currently, the shipment of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets continues to grow rapidly, driving the rapid development of the mobile game industry. While Chinese mobile game developers are competing fiercely at home, they are also looking for blue oceans in overseas markets. According to the latest report from Newzoo, a market research company focusing on the game industry, the global game market is expected to grow by 6% in 2013, reaching a scale of US$70.4 billion. Among all types of games, the growth rate of mobile games far exceeds that of others.

Chinese mobile game developers tend to choose Europe, America, and Southeast Asian countries. According to the latest data, Japan and South Korea are among the top five paid downloads on Google Play. These two countries are similar to China in terms of culture and geography, but are ignored by many mobile game manufacturers.

Mobile games - a new front for grassroots counterattack

Faced with the business opportunities and broad prospects presented by the overseas market, Chinese mobile game developers who have encountered fierce competition and difficulties in generating revenue in China have begun to try overseas operation models. The overseas application market is relatively concentrated, with a high user payment rate and strong market standardization. According to Zhang Shanfeng from Google's Business Customer Solutions Department, as of now, hundreds of domestic mobile game companies have carried out marketing and promotion through Google's mobile marketing solutions, of which about 30% have begun marketing in overseas markets. Many grassroots entrepreneurial teams in China have only released their games for overseas markets since the beginning of their business. It is precisely because of the relatively mature overseas market environment that the team can focus on developing products, paying attention to the user base, and creating high-quality games. He also suggested that Chinese mobile game developers must focus on three aspects: products, marketing, and promotion.

However, Chinese developers also face many difficulties and misunderstandings on the road to "going overseas". For example, some developers fail to understand the habits of overseas users, and their products cannot be recognized by users, making them less competitive than local products. Some developers blindly invest in promotion, ignoring the importance of making good products, and ultimately get half the result with twice the effort.

Of course, there are already many Chinese mobile game developers who have achieved good results overseas. For example, "Heroes of War" is an MMORPG game launched by Kunlun Online for South Korea. The game has been ranked first in the free download rankings of Google Play and TStore in South Korea for a long time. "Heroes of War" is simple and easy to play with exquisite graphics, which conforms to the habits of Korean users and is deeply loved by fans. In terms of promotion, Kunlun Online has made use of Google's in-app advertising and YouTube advertising, and cooperated with local market channels to achieve satisfactory results in the promotion of the Korean market. In addition, "Heroes of War" uses in-app payment to obtain revenue for the company. Another strategy game developed by Chengdu Digital Sky Technology Co., Ltd., "Heroes of War" is based on the Three Kingdoms. The game restores the scenes of the rise of heroes in the Three Kingdoms, the disputes among princes, and the chaos in the world. They are also very satisfied with the effect of Google's in-app advertising in the Japanese market.

Three Steps to Overseas Development

Regarding the development of Chinese mobile game developers in the Japanese and Korean markets, Tatsuo Sakamoto from Google Japan Business Cooperation Department suggested that developers take three steps:

The first step is to increase product exposure. Download volume is the first factor for the success of mobile games. Developers must first make their products stand out from many homogeneous games. They can choose Google's various advertising types to increase brand awareness, such as in-app ads, mobile search ads, YouTube videos, display advertising networks, etc., also for mobile games.

The second step is to enhance user interactivity, such as continuously updating games to attract old users to "patronize", or holding limited-time events and promotions for festivals.

The third step is to establish a business model. In addition to paid downloads, there are many other ways for developers to earn revenue through game products. For example, in-app payment, developers can make profits by selling game advertising plug-ins or built-in games.

In addition to marketing, Google's local team in China also regularly provides mobile game developers with first-hand overseas market consultation, multilingual customer service support, successful experience sharing, and coordination of various resources to help domestic mobile game companies promote localization. The overseas market has become a blue ocean for Chinese mobile game developers. Chinese mobile game manufacturers should seize opportunities in a timely manner, meet challenges, and successfully promote more products overseas and go global.
Related data reference:

According to IDC's second quarter data, smartphone shipments reached 263 million, a year-on-year increase of 51%, and smartphones accounted for 54.6% of total mobile phone sales; at the same time, tablet sales reached 45 million, a year-on-year increase of nearly 59.6%.

According to the latest report from Newzoo, a market research company focusing on the gaming industry, the global gaming market is expected to grow by 6% in 2013, reaching a size of US$70.4 billion. Among all categories of games, mobile games are growing much faster than others.

According to a recent report released by British analysis company Juniper Research, the mobile game market will reach $24 billion in 2017.

As of June 2012, there are 4 billion ad requests per day on the AdMob network. AdMob now covers more than 300,000 mobile applications in 200 countries and regions.

As of June 2012, the total number of mobile ad requests from China ranked fifth in AdMob's global market. From 2011 to 2012, China's mobile ad requests increased by 120%.