In addition to games, VR products and mobile phones were widely seen in ChinaJoy, which has become China's largest pan-entertainment gala over the development of 15 years.
Evolving from games to pan-entertainment ecosystem shows great progresses of game enterprises and maturity of the game industry, Kunlun Games CEO Chen Fang told NBD.
According to a report co-released by CNG, IDC, and the Game Publishers Association Publications Committee of The China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association on China's game industry in the first half of 2017, sales revenue of the Chinese game market reached 99.78 billion yuan (about 14.8 billion U.S. dollars), representing a year-on-year rise of 26.7 percent.
Despite the abrupt growth, content homogeneity remains an issue worthy of concern. Zhang Shule, a commentator on industry and economy, told NBD that reduced technical threshold leads to potential homogeneity, and there were specific types at different stage. For example, elimination games were all the rage when the mobile game industry just started, then came card games, followed by ACG games and now AR games.
Founding partner of China Insights Consultancy Hou Xuchao agreed, explaining that with the popularity of smartphones, people spend a lot of time on smartphones, bringing enormous opportunities to game enterprises, but the lack of game modes and ways of playing games leave these enterprises no option but to draw juice from successful games.
Data shows that more than 10,000 games were developed last year. However, with competition getting fiercer, only fine-quality games can win market, Yang Jun, Senior Vice President of Wuhu Shunrong Sanqi Interactive Entertainment Network Technology Co., Ltd., told NBD in an interview.
In addition to developing high-quality games, expanding the presence in overseas markets also constitutes part of strategy of game enterprises.
With this regard, Chen Fang said that compared with the Chinese market where demographic dividend is disappearing, markets like Southeast Asia, South America, and Africa have substantial potentials.
At this year's ChinaJoy, youzu.com reached a strategic partnership of Warner. Not long ago, the English version of the popular game "King Of Glory" was launched in Europe and the U.S. The overseas edition of the Eternal Crusade has held the top spot in multiple ranking lists in Southeast Asia thanks to Wuhu Shunrong Sanqi's efforts in expanding footprints overseas since 2012. With a focus on both the Chinese and international markets, Perfect World Co., Ltd. has seen increasing popularity of its games overseas.
To better tap into international markets, Phil Mansell, COO and acting CEO of Fukong Interactive Entertainment's Jagex, said that partnership with overseas companies would save a lot of troubles, while Yang Jun suggested that it would be wise to make Asian countries the first stop of going abroad.
Email: lansuying@nbd.com.cn