2014 was another banner year for China’s gaming scene. But it was also a year that saw some pretty surprising trends exposed. In case you were too busy gaming to notice, here are six major trends from China’s gaming market this year.
1. Mobile gaming grows (but it doesn’t make money)
China’s mobile gaming market continued to grow in 2014, although its growth slowed considerably over the course of the year. In the third quarter of this year, growth slowed to 72.8 percent year-on-year: a significant drop from previous quarters, but still a pretty impressive growth rate. And there’s no doubt that China’s mobile gaming market has plenty more room to grow.
But despite excellent and fast-growing smartphone penetration and a strong interest in mobile gaming (games are the most popular type of app in China), 2014 was not the year that mobile gaming took over China’s gaming market. The vast majority (more than 92 percent) of China’s mobile games lost money this year. And even though China has twice as many smartphone users as it has broadband PC users, revenues from PC gaming continue to dwarf mobile gaming revenues.
2. Consoles have come (but nobody cares)
The Xbox One launched in China this year, bringing China’s (almost) decade-long game console ban to an end. The PS4 won’t officially launch until next year, but the major details – pricing, launch lineup, etc. – are already on hand. The world’s console manufacturers finally have access to a market with hundreds of millions of gamers.
Unfortunately, though, most of those gamers don’t care about consoles, especially when the consoles are crippled with restrictive features like region-locking. The Xbox One’s early sales in China reached just 100,000 including preorders. We haven’t heard a peep from Microsoft since then, but the device’s recent US$80 price drop does not suggest the machine has been selling like hotcakes. Consoles may be officially available in China now, but they haven’t yet managed to tear China’s gamers away from their PCs.
3. eSports gets even bigger (but China still can’t win at its favorite game)
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