Chinese game apps are spreading abroad like wildfire and the US has become one of their top markets. From the first half of 2017 to the first half of this year, Chinese game makers raised their profits by 52% in the US earning more than $600 million, according to new data from App Annie.
Downloads of Chinese games in the US iOS App Store and Google Play Store increased by 54% during the same time. Thatโs close to 200 million downloads.
This follows the overall trend of Chinese mobile games going abroad. According to an earlier report from App Annie published July 31, during the first half of 2018, mobile game publishers hit $2.6 billion in overseas revenues from the iOS App Store and Google Play Store, a 40 percent year-on-year hike.
Overseas expansion has become a necessity, according to the report, as China experiences a slowdown in domestic mobile game revenues. Kern Zhang, head of new business at App Annie in China, told China Daily that the slowdown is due to oversaturation and โdisappearance of the demographic dividendโ AKA young people.
However, there might be other reasons Chinese game makers are going abroad. Chinaโs State Administration of Radio and Television (SART) has not granted licenses for new games since March 2018, causing a drastic slowdown in industry growth. Mobile games have been hit the hardest, with year-on-year growth lunging from 50% to 13%.
As for the US market, Chinese action game apps were some of the most downloaded games. Tencentโs Player Unknownโs Battlegrounds (PUBG) ranked No. 1 in downloads in the US during the first half of the year while NetEaseโs Terminator 2: Judgement Day ranked third.
Casual mobile games were also seeing high download rates in the first half of 2018 including Love Balls (ๆ็ฑ็็), Word Crossy, Draw In (ๅฎ็พ็็บฟ), Rolling Sky (ๆปๅจ็ๅคฉ็ฉบ), and Dancing Line (่ทณ่็็บฟ).
Strategic games still dominate the list of games with the highest income. FunPlusโs Gun of Glory and King of Avalon: Dragon Warfare (้ฟ็ฆ้ไน็๏ผ้พไนๆๅฝน) are ranked first and third respectively. IGGโs Lords Mobile (็ๅฝ็บช) is ranked second with another title from the company placing itself at no. 9โCastle Clash (ๅๅ กไบ้ธ).
Two games from Elex, Clash of Kings (ๅ็็็บทไบ) and Miracle Nikki (ๅฅ่ฟนๆๆ), placed themselves fourth and fifth respectively. Word Crossy is the only casual game that placed itself in the top 15 according to revenues.
