Future looks bright for gaming industry
estimate the gaming industry will continue to grow steadily over the rest of the year, and is set to see a significant jump in the next two years,” Liu added.
Gamma Data noted in the report that among all players, more than half are aged under 25, with many born after 1995 and in the 2000s. Compared to those born in the 1990s, those born in the 2000s are more active in the game market.
“As the purchasing power of techsavvy younger generations grows, especially those born in the 2000s, they will gradually become the main force of game consumption,” said Xiao Hong, CEO of Perfect World Co Ltd, a Chinese movie and gaming company. “The younger generation are not like their parents, and demand a different kind of entertainment content or form.”
To better cater to the younger generation, Perfect World has further expanded game categories, including female-oriented gaming, anime, comics and gaming, esports, sandbox games, simulation games and card games.
“The key is to better cater to the younger generation, offer high-quality products and continue to go global,” Xiao added.
For instance, the company’s French team Magic Design Studio has developed a 2-D action-adventure game called Unruly Heroes. Based on the story of China’s classic fantasy novel Journey to the West, the game was nominated for Best PC Game and Best Visual Art at the Ping Awards 2018.
The Beijing-based company reported in April its revenues for 2018 rose 1.31 percent to more than 8 billion yuan, of which 5.42 billion yuan was from the gaming sector. And the company’s overseas revenues reached 1.48 billion yuan in 2018, up by 20.09 percent year-onyear.
“Gaming is developing diversity, maturity and innovation. And the blossoming new technologies will also boost the gaming industry’s development,” Xiao said. “With a raft of popular entertainment apps dominating netizen’s smartphone screens, there is less time for gaming apps.”
Kern Zhang, head of new business at mobile analytics firm App Annie in China, agreed, saying successful emerging entertainment apps such as short videos could squeeze out gaming apps.
“As people have limited time for entertainment, new formats will inevitably have an effect on the existing ones,” Zhang said. “The booming pan-entertainment sector may affect the gaming sector. Thus gaming firms need to gear up to invest more resources and offer innovative high-quality products that meet gamers’ changing demand.”