Online games from China gaining fans
Chinese online game companies saw a significant increase in overseas sales in the first half of 2019, which shows the country’s growing influence in the global gaming industry, a report said.
Chinese-produced games reaped 38.13 billion yuan ($5.57 billion) in overseas sales from January to June, up 20.2 percent year-onyear. The growth surpassed that of domestic sales, according to a report released by the Game Publishers Association Publications Committee, also known as GPC, earlier this month.
Games related to role play, strategy and multiplayer online battles were the most popular among foreign players. Their revenue contributed 83 percent to overseas revenue in total, it said.
In recent years, Chinese games have made significant progress in research and development. This is especially true for mobile games that improved their presence in overseas markets, said Sun Shoushan, chairman of the committee.
Companies such as Tencent Games, Shengqu Games, Perfect World and Giant Network have entered the global market.
Xiao Hong, CEO of Perfect World, told Chinese financial news outlet Yicai that the company has entered about 100 countries and regions since 2008. This includes the United States, the Netherlands, France, South Korea and Japan.
He added the company is working on integrating global resources, creating a new cultural consumption experience, adopting Chinese culture, cooperating with other companies and enhancing corporate social responsibility.
Xie Fei, CEO of Shengqu Games, said the company works on the export of intellectual property and cooperation of global IP. It produced several games that targeted overseas markets this year. It will cooperate with foreign companies such as Bethesda from the US and Klab from Japan in R&D, operation and circulation.
The US, Japan and Western Europe are the top three overseas markets for Chinese gaming companies. Gamers in these regions typically have high requirements for quality, which also powers the improvement of China’s gaming products, according to a report released in late July by the Gamma Data research institute.
Liu Wei, president of Giant Network, said due to the development of mobile internet, mobile games can reach customers around the world in a short time.
Games provide a more interactive and immersive experience than films, which has proved attractive regardless of national boundaries, he said.
In the past, Liu added, gaming companies cared more about gameplay rules, graphics and technologies. But now the world view and culture should be taken into consideration.
Five thousand years of Chinese culture can be put to use in design of games, which still has much space to grow, he said.
of Shengqu Games, for example, used the imagery of ancient palaces and costumes from the Tang Dynasty (618907).
NetEase Games and the Palace Museum produced a mobile game this year, which was adapted from the painting
by Wang Ximeng of the Song Dynasty (9601279).
The game gained popularity in markets such as the US, United Kingdom, France and Australia.
To further explore global markets, Sun from GPC suggested Chinese gaming companies improve the themes, graphics and gameplay, study the preferences and demands of overseas clients, enhance R&D and the application of self-owned IP and core technologies.