CHINA MOBILE GAME MARKET REPORT 2013 August 2013 4th Report in Niko s 2013 Market Research Subscription on China s Games Industry
ABOUT NIKO PARTNERS Our Focus Niko Partners specializes in market research about China s games industry. Since 2003, we have published industry-leading syndicated reports and custom research studies using primary research about the PC online, PC offline, console, and handheld segments of the Chinese gaming market. In 2010 we added coverage of the games markets in Southeast Asia including the countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. In 2011 we added coverage of the mobile games segment. Our staff in Silicon Valley and Shanghai directs, collects, and analyzes the data and prepares the reports. Our Mission and Services Niko Partners mission is to help game software, hardware, services, and investment companies, and regulators, understand the market, strategically enter or expand market share, select the best partners, and continue to profitably grow within China and Southeast Asia. We support our mission through our state-of-the-practice market research reports and a host of related services: Our Team Market-entry strategy development and consultation Partner introductions and selection assistance Focus groups Custom surveys to people from a database of 1.8 million Chinese consumers Market opportunity analysis using custom research Lisa Cosmas Hanson, founder of Niko Partners, leads the team of analysts, researchers, and consultants and manages operations in the US and China. Kevin Hause, Megan Carriker and Xiaofeng Zeng were major contributors to this report. The US-based Niko team consists of professional analysts and consultants in Silicon Valley who collaborate on all research methodologies and quantitative and qualitative analysis. The China-based team is located in Shanghai and consists of experienced analysts and market research professionals. They manage the China-based researchers and local surveys, interviews and focus groups. Our Clients We serve worldwide industry leaders in game software, hardware, and services, as well as hedge funds, media companies, trade associations, and management consulting firms, all of whom have a vested interest in a thorough understanding of the Asian games industry. 2 Niko Partners 2013 www.nikopartners.com
2013 CHINA MARKET RESEARCH SUBSCRIPTION DELIVERABLES February: Chinese Games Market Trends Bulletin April: China s PC Online Games Market Report June: Location of Gameplay and Gaming Hardware Report August: China s Mobile Games Market Report September: China s Online Games Market Six-Month Update Bulletin October: Chinese Gamers Report (Tiers 1/2/3/4) November: Southeast Asian Games Market Regional Report (optional add-on) December: 2013 Year in Review Presentation (on-site, upon request) Ongoing data services: Monthly Internet Café Games & SNS Rankings Data from Tiers 1/2/3/4, and Quarterly Home Gamers Data from Tiers 1/2/3/4 Custom research: upon request Analyst inquiry time: 10 hours per year, upon request 3 Niko Partners 2013 www.nikopartners.com
Table of Contents About Niko Partners... 2 Our Focus... 2 Our Mission and Services... 2 Our Team... 2 Our Clients... 2 2013 China Market Research Subscription Deliverables... 3 Glossary of terms... 6 Methodology... 7 Partners in this report:... 7 Umeng is the largest mobile app analytics platform in China. More than 50,000 developers, 130,000 apps use Umeng across IOS, Android and other platforms.... 7 Executive Summary... 8 Market overview and forecast... 9 Number of Mobile Gamers... 12 Mobile telecom carriers... 14 Mobile Game Business Models... 15 Mobile Game Spending and ARPU... 16 App stores and 3 rd party platforms... 17 Games and Developers... 20 Popular Mobile Games... 22 Mobile hardware... 26 Key Manufacturers... 28 Gamers and Behavior... 29 Final Thoughts... 37 4 Niko Partners 2013 www.nikopartners.com
Table of Figures Exhibit 1: Mobile Gaming Revenues and Gamer Forecast, 2011 2017... 10 Exhibit 2: Mobile Gaming Revenues and Gamer Forecast Chart, 2011 2017... 11 Exhibit 3: Monthly Average Revenues per Gamer, Paying v. All, 2011 2017... 12 Exhibit 4: Mobile Gamers as Percentage of All Wireless Subscriptions, 2011 2017... 13 Exhibit 5: Mobile Gamers as Percentage of All Wireless Subscriptions, 2013... 14 Exhibit 6: Mobile Carrier Subscriptions, All and 3G or Better... 15 Exhibit 7: Spending on Mobile Games Q1 2013, All Gamers... 17 Exhibit 8: App Store Channels, Android OS Platform... 18 Exhibit 9: ios Devices Jailbroken Rates Dec 2012-Feb 2013... 19 Exhibit 10: Growth in Mobile Game Developers... 21 Exhibit 11: Top 20 ios App Store Games by Downloads in China, June 2013... 23 Exhibit 12: Top 20 ios App Store Games by Revenue in China, June 2013... 24 Exhibit 13: Top 3 Mobile Games Niko s Survey Respondents Played in April 2013... 25 Exhibit 14: App Installation by Time of Day... 26 Exhibit 15: Selected Smartphone Pricing... 27 Exhibit 16: New Smartphone Activations by Month, 2012 (000s activations)... 27 Exhibit 17: Access to Internet by Operating System... 28 Exhibit 18: Mobile Phone Ownership Among PC Gamers... 29 Exhibit 19: Hours per Week Spent Playing Games, by Mobile Device... 30 Exhibit 20: Mobile Gaming Hours per Week by Device... 30 Exhibit 21: Mobile Gaming: Playing More/Less Compared to Last Year... 31 Exhibit 22: Mobile Gaming: Location of Gameplay... 32 Exhibit 23: Mobile Gaming by Situation/Location... 32 Exhibit 24: Number of Mobile Games Actively Being Played This Week... 33 Exhibit 25: Mobile App Usage Behavior by Major Category, 2012... 34 Exhibit 26: Interest Shared Between Game Categories... 34 Exhibit 27: Mobile App Usage Behavior by Major Category, 2012... 35 Exhibit 28: Game Genre Preference by Gender, 2012... 36 5 Niko Partners 2013 www.nikopartners.com