The Asian video game market will continue to grow this year. Its turnover may reach $65 billion.
The forecast for the Asian market for the coming year was released by analysts at Niko Partners. Here is the most interesting of it:
- the market audience can reach 1.5 billion players. And 720 million — from China;
- In 2019, the turnover of the gaming segment in China reached $33 billion. In 2020, the indicator is expected to grow to $36 billion.;
- Thailand has become one of the fastest growing markets. In 2020, it may be the first country in Southeast Asia where the gaming industry will earn more than $1 billion.
The growth of the regional market is primarily stimulated by the growing mobile esports. Other positive influencing factors are quite standard: this is franchising and subsidizing game development.
Changes in the market
In 2020, 5G cloud gaming may unfold in Asia. 5G will become the driver of streaming gaming on mobile devices, write Niko Partners. The technology will allow gamers to play anywhere and on any devices, and cloud catalogs will include AAA titles.
Competition in the segment will intensify. Industry newcomers will challenge such giants as Tencent and NetEase, analysts say. One of the candidates for market share is Alibaba, which has invested millions of yuan in its gaming division. Another candidate is Bytedance, which created TikTok and is experimenting with mini-games in a video application. Probably, both companies will release their first hits in 2020.
Niko Partners also note that Asian exports will go up. For example, many developers from China are looking to the West after a temporary licensing freeze. During the year, they managed to establish more contacts with foreign publishers and sell some of the game developments abroad. The already mentioned Tencent and NetEase have opened several offices in North America. In 2020, this trend may turn into an expansion of the Western market by Asian developers.
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