Montgomery Singman, Shenzhen iDreamSky Technology

Winning In the Chinese Market

(White Nights Conference Moscow 2018)
The official conference website — http://wnconf.com

Transcript

1. Winning in the Chinese Market Monte Singman
2. The Chinese mobile game market at a glance
3. The Chinese mobile game market at a glance Chinese Mobile Games payment conversion rates strategy action RPG CBG Simulation Chess & cards shooting sports puzzles Source: DataEye
4. The Chinese mobile game market at a glance Source: DataEye A very different mobile device landscape Source: Mobile No.1 research institute
5. The Chinese mobile game market at a glance • A highly fragmented android market • A highly regulated market • A lot of barriers but the reward is big • Data center can only sign with Chinese companies • Both UA and customer support requires Chinese language skills • Expensive UA costs, many are switching over to direct media buys • Casual and Hyper Casual are having a hard time competing for traffic, since the LTV does not justify the UA costs, many western games are operating at a loss in China while profitable in other regions
6. The current government policy update • The cards and casino type games are first to be cleaned up • Violence and sexually explicit games are also being removed • Using old ISBN on a new or different game is being cracked down now • The current situation appears to remain this way Remedy: 1. Apps do not require ISBN for now 2. Instant games on QQ and Wechat do not require ISBN for now 3. Chinese games will export in a big way now
7. What genres work well in China ios Android RPG 0.19 0.09 Board/Casino/Cards 0.17 0.13 Strategy 0.16 0.09 CBG 0.16 0.14 Casual 0.15 0.08 Simulations 0.11 0.08 Action 0.10 0.07 Shooting 0.09 0.07 Sports 0.07 0.06 2017Q3 China mobile game genre ranking by DAU/MAU
8. Opportunities and challenges • It’s a highly competitive market, half-hearted approach is not going to work, patience is required • Constant visit may be necessary at some point • UA/PR/Branding/Community management are all communication intensive tasks • Channel relationship is even difficult for Chinese publishers
9. The future outlook • More international partnerships will happen • Co-development, investment, co-publishing, and different business models will appear • The government approval process makes it very hard for indie games to be viable in China • Apps • Instant games • Chinese companies investing in foreign companies
10. Thank you 谢谢