Niko Partners presented a report on trends in the Asian mobile market for 2020
Analytical company Niko Partners told about the key events and trends of last year in the Asian mobile games market. Among them are a record number of Tencent investment deals, the growth of esports and increased interest in Genshin Impact.Genshin Impact is the most popular streaming game in China
Since the release, which took place on September 28, the miHoYo project has remained in the top ten most popular titles on streaming sites in the Middle Kingdom.
- Most of the game was watched on the Bilibili platform.The most successful day for Genshin Impact was December 1, when a new character ZhongLi was added to it.
- The game was launched by 4,000 streamers, and the broadcasts attracted a total of 9.5 million viewers.Genshin Impact’s rating on streaming sites grows every time developers release updates for the game or hold events with prayers (the local equivalent of gacha) for new characters.
- Record number of Tencent deals
The total number of the company’s transactions related to investments and purchases of game studios was 31.
- This is three times more than in 2019, and four times more than the company’s results for 2017.Niko Partners notes that the growing number of deals suggests that Tencent has become more active in the market and is now investing not only in well-established teams.
- The Chinese giant started investing in small studios (mainly developers for PC and consoles), trying to invest in them at earlier stages of development.
- In return, the company offers them its experience in the mobile sector.Niko Partners also believes that Tencent’s actions are related to the activity of its competitors.
- In the near future, the company is unlikely to lose its leadership in the gaming market, but the pressure from major players like ByteDance and Alibaba continues to grow.Ban of Chinese games by the Government of India
Among the 220 apps blocked by India last year were 46 mobile games — including hits like PUBG Mobile and Mobile Legends.
- Both projects were leaders in the genres of battle royals and MOBA in India.
- In November PUBG Corp. She announced plans to return the game to the local market under a new brand, but the losses from the absence of Mobile Legends in the country may be much more serious in the future.Niko Partners believes that the ban on games has dealt a serious blow to Indian esports and its young stars.
- The Growth of mobile esports in Southeast Asia
The number of esports tournaments on mobile games in the region has increased by 21% over the year.
- At the same time, the number of PC title tournaments decreased by 16%.Because of the pandemic, prize money has decreased, since sponsors are not ready to invest in online events as much as they spent on offline events.
- For mobile tournaments, the size of prize funds fell by 30%, and for PC games competitions — by 23.5%.The main drivers of the growth of esports in the region remain battle royales and MOBA.
- The main competitive disciplines are still PUBG Mobile and Mobile Legends.Other popular games for which tournaments were held were League of Legends, Dota 2 and CS:GO.
- Most of the tournaments were organized in Indonesia and Malaysia thanks not only to the well-developed gaming industry and infrastructure, but also to the support of the government.
