While the market in the country is currently about half that of the United States, its growth rate is tremendous.
There is no doubt that mobile gaming is huge in China, despite the fact that it represents only a fraction of its complete video games market, and the fact that it is only about half of the size of the American market.
What makes the difference is the very rapid growth rate that the Chinese mobile games market is experiencing.
Mobile gaming is far lower, per capita, in the Chinese market than in the U.S. but the potential is only just starting to be tapped and the gap is about to close exceptionally rapidly. Currently, it is estimate that the market there is at around $9.7 billion (60 billion yuan). It has been consoles and, to a much greater extent, PC games that have been leading the way in terms of revenue in the country. However, the prediction now is that when compared to mobile devices, PC games may be about to lose their top position. This doesn’t necessarily mean that PC has no future, but it instead means that there is a great deal more room to grow in mobile.
Mobile gaming is accessible to a far larger number of people that haven’t tapped into it yet, in China.
The lead held by PC games remains a very sizeable one, but the situation has shown that growth is starting to slow, simply because it is starting to reach a level of saturation. Those who have PCs and who will use them for gaming are already doing so, to a large extent. What makes the mobile games environment have such potential to take the lead is that there are far more smartphone users than computer owners in the country, and they are now starting to get into these apps with a vengeance.
The growth in mobile gaming has been an amazing 400 percent, from having been 2.5 billion yuan a couple of years ago, to 125.2 billion yuan, last year. With an estimated three times more smartphone and tablet based gamers than there are on PCs, that shows that there is still quite a distance for mobile to go before it has reached its maturity.
Pangea Mobile has now thrown itself into the race to change the direction of gaming app flow.
The current trend among mobile games companies has been to bring the offerings from the Western world to China, but a rising number of businesses is now attempting to direct Chinese games to the West, as well.
Pangea Mobile, based in San Francisco, is the latest to create its own strategy to take part in this effort.
The company has broadened its efforts beyond the development of game apps, in order to be able to offer services that will make it possible to allow mobile game developers in China to be able to offer their titles to smartphone and tablet users in the Western world. In this effort, it has now brought together a team of veteran game developers who will be offering analytics tools, localization services, and cross promotion features.
Mobile games are released at an astounding rate in China, and the company is hoping to take advantage of that.
Pangea Mobile has pointed out that China sees the release of 300 new games on a monthly basis. If those mobile apps could be successful in the West, then it would be of great benefit to those developers. The company also claims that its meticulously selected team has a thorough understanding of the challenges faced by Chinese developers who have attempted to step into the heavy competition in the Western market, particularly in the United States.
Ray Cheng, the Pangea Mobile CEO, stated that the company knows the various types of challenge that can be faced in terms of social media mechanisms, monetization as a whole, and retention, as well as the requirement for localization at a high quality level. Where China presents another range of potential competition problems, Cheng feels that the American game app marketplace is healthier and has a greater focus on quality and enjoyment of playing instead of just being able to win.
Cheng explained that when it comes to mobile games, “We are a true gateway to the West.” He added that “We are the only company that provides Chinese game developers and publishers one-stop-shop services with analytics tools to make their games successful in the Western market.”
