In brief
Mobile gaming offers substantial business opportunities, but success requires both technology and commercialisation. This 2014 article highlights Tower of Saviors and forecasts strong growth in mainland China and the global mobile gaming market.
In today's society, building a successful business with limited resources is no longer a far-fetched idea. In digital entertainment in particular, the widespread adoption and development of smartphones have broughtapp development companiestremendous business opportunities, prompting them to focus onmobile games and appsas platforms for exploring new directions for growth.
However, success is not guaranteed in the mobile gaming industry. At the Digital Entertainment Leadership Forum held at Cyberport in April, several experts analysed market trends in the hope of helpingapp developersfind a path to success.
Mobile games have become a hot topic in the industry and society because of the extraordinary success stories they have produced in recent years. Perhaps the most remarkable example is Tower of Saviors: an equity investment from Forgame made two brothers wealthy overnight, inspiring widespread enthusiasm for developing game apps.
Although players have repeatedly accused the game of copying a similar Japanese game, Puzzles and Dragons, these accusations have not diminished its market value. Indeed, the success of Tower of Saviors is enough to make it a model for the industry.
Mainland mobile game users expected to exceed 400 million by year-end
A research report from mainland China's Analysys indicated that, by the end of 2012, the mainland mobile gaming market had exceeded RMB 6 billion, with 286 million users, an increase of 60% year on year. The market was forecast to exceed RMB 20 billion in 2015. Smartphones also accounted for a steadily increasing proportion of total mobile phone sales and were expected to make up more than 90% in the future, becoming dominant in the market. Meanwhile, mobile internet users were expected to reach 820 million, further expanding business opportunities in mobile gaming. In 2012, China's mobile gaming market had already surpassed other gaming categories, accounting for 51.6% of the total gaming market. Mainland research also forecast that mobile game users would exceed 400 million by the end of this year.
Mobile gaming industry forecasts
App marketing platform AppLift also published an industry forecast last year, predicting that the global mobile gaming market would grow by 27.3% annually to reach US$23.9 billion in 2016, with players becoming increasingly willing to pay to play games. At present, there are 3.68 million paying players worldwide, accounting for 38% of all players, with each spending an average of US$2.78 per month. This proportion is expected to rise to 50% in the future. Beyond smartphones, the total value of the tablet gaming market is also expected to increase fourfold from its current level to US$10 billion in 2016. By regional revenue, Asia-Pacific is the largest mobile gaming market, accounting for 48% of the total. Eastern and Western Europe lead the world in growth, with compound annual growth rates exceeding 33%, followed closely by China and Southeast Asia within the Asia-Pacific region.
To date, the ultimate aim of advances in digital technology has been to achieve lifelike realism. The development of imaging technology from 4K to 8K has consistently moved in this direction. Digital entertainment currently favourssmartphone platforms. To move forward, the key is to combine technology with commercialisation, reaching the public and providing a variety of entertainment experiences.