An online Scrabble match seems far. Hunting for Gold in China s Online Gaming Market

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1 imaginechina m a r k e t p r o f i l e B y E s t h e r Yo u n g Hunting for Gold in China s Online Gaming Market An online Scrabble match seems far removed from the story of China s economic boon, but China s US$5 billion online gaming market may provide a snapshot of incredible market potential in China. A McKinsey study reveals that 80 percent of China s total Internet users play online games, and a forecast of the video game industry in China projects that revenues will top US$8 billion by 2014 with room for growth among China s 420 million Internet users. These numbers contrast with those in the U.S. market, in which sales fell 22 percent this year. First, a short primer for the game-uninitiated: not all online games are the same. Many games are casual games, characterized by simple gameplay and little commitment, geared towards a mass audience. They include games such as Scrabble or the bird-slinging puzzle game Angry Birds and may allow you to play with a friend remotely on an iphone. Online games may also include massively multiplayer online role-playing games, or MMORPGs, such as Starcraft or fantasy-based World of Warcraft (WoW), which allow a very large number of players to interact and play with each other on a virtual game interface using virtual avatar characters. WoW recently counted 11.4 million subscribers worldwide. China s online players engage in the whole range of gaming options and in unexpected ways. Casual games company PopCap s Asia-Pacific Vice President James Gwertzman, whose company China s online gaming market, like the country s other markets, holds opportunities for those willing to play the game. j u n e i n s i g h t 1 1

2 China s competitive online gaming market requires a profound understanding of one s own assets and needs to succeed. designed the popular Zombie vs. Plants and Bejeweled games, visited China for a research trip in 2005, and he was surprised to see what games Chinese users were playing. I saw people playing our games, he says. We had not done any special marketing for China, nor had we really distributed in China, yet PopCap had a name out here. Chinese players are well versed in global gaming trends and seem eager to join their ranks. Strong domestic companies in China have charted remarkable success in the last few years. Tencent, which provides popular online games Dungeon and Fighter and Crossfire along with the popular chat program QQ, owned 40.2 percent of the market share of public online games companies in the third quarter of 2010, and charted US$1.4 billion in sales, followed by competitor Netease at US$749 million. And these companies are growing. Sohu.com recently bought a 68 percent stake in the Web-based games developer Shenzhen 7Road Technology for US$100 million, boosting its capabilities for game development. American companies find the China market hard to resist. In addition to PopCap, U.S. video game giants Electronic Arts and Blizzard are both in China, searching for traction among China s gaming enthusiasts. However, like most of China s other markets, the local gaming market is one that requires careful consideration before engagement; it offers opportunities and pitfalls in equal measure. And not unlike how playing World of Warcraft requires cooperation and strategy, China s competitive online gaming market requires a profound understanding of one s own assets and needs to succeed. The unique Chinese market Because many online games in China are free, business models that have worked in the U.S., which have historically relied on direct sales and higher-cost subscriptions, must adapt to the unique China market. Pearl Research, a business intelligence firm, reports that one of the drivers of China s online games market is its affordability, though Chinese companies have found other means of revenue. Users can later pay real money for virtual items they can use in free games, such as weapons, magical elixirs or game currency or special access to certain levels of the game. Other games are simply low cost. To play online MMORPG games such as World of Warcraft, users pay a nickel an hour. User retention rates for online gaming are also relatively high. Many of the games foster a community-like environment, which encourages repeat customers. With the entertainment market in China still in development, the cheap-andeasy access of online gaming makes it an enticing entertainment option. Another unique feature of the China market is that the PC remains the leading gaming platform in China, especially because the PC is a high-priority purchase for many households for educational or technical-skill building purposes. The Wii, Xbox 360 and other console-based systems, which do not have a long history in China, remain high-cost and a low-priority purchase for most. A surprising finding is that the overall demographic for gaming barring the differences between casual games and MMORPGs is rather uniform and not skewed towards a younger group as the case is in other markets. A McKinsey study on China s Internet users found that once an individual starts using the Internet, what they do online (most popularly, instant messaging, music/ video streaming and gaming) is spread relatively evenly across all age groups. Foreign online gaming companies must also consider the uniqueness and competitiveness of China s gaming companies. Local gaming companies are characterized by their diverse interests few provide only online gaming content. The most prominent example may be Tencent, which originally only derived profit from QQ users paying for premium content or mobile phone services, but now has strong games-related revenue. Shanda Interactive, a leading games developer, recently filed a draft IPO registration of Shanda Literature (under its new name, Cloudary), which is an online publisher of novels, and Netease operates 163.com, a popular web portal. Diversified interests allow these companies to incorporate the creation and branding of games, 1 2 i n s i g h t j u n e

3 tying certain games directly into its in-house social media systems. One report from a recent conference on China s online game industry indicates that 60 percent of sales revenue from gaming came from games designed in China, with 356 products developed in The IPR challenge and other pitfalls The ability to compete in the China market for some foreign companies can also be tricky, especially in regards to IPR enforcement and protection, regulatory compliance and human resource constraints. Gwetzman s experience during his 2005 research trip gave him a glimpse of the first challenge. Though PopCap had not established itself in China, Chinese players had access to its games through illegal portals. Though the Chinese government has recently cracked down on illegal download sites, many pirated games are still available. Most copies are not even the original game. Many sites specialize in shanzhai games that is, games that mimic the original and often include modified options, such as Chinese text. Another challenge stems from how online gaming companies are regulated in China. Under Chinese law, gaming companies are considered media companies, and foreign companies entering the Chinese media market must comply with strict commercial laws. They may not, for example, distribute their own content; they must partner with a Chinese company to do so. This status affects even the biggest names in online gaming. When Blizzard entered the China market in 2009, they were quickly entrenched in red tape. First partnering with China s The9, then with Netease to launch the WoW platform in 2009, the company was subject to several reviews and suspensions in apparent violation of Chinese law. In 2010, after finally gaining approval from China s Ministry of Culture, the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP), another agency with jurisdiction over foreign media companies, ordered Netease not to accept new account registrations, citing gross violations of regulations. Some suggest that Blizzard and Netease may have been the unfortunate victims of PopCap Games It started with a research trip to China in PopCap Games, worldwide leader in casual games, made its official entrance into the China market in 2008 and today is growing its APAC base in Shanghai. The American creator of Bejeweled and Zuma also announced that it is due to launch a version of Plants vs. Zombies on Chinese social network Renren. PopCap is gaining a good footing in China, so it begs the question how are they doing it? PopCap faces the same issues that other foreign gaming companies have had to negotiate, including IP infringement, human resource constraints and a complex regulatory landscape. A key factor in overcoming these challenges, it seems, is time. Instead of rushing into the market, PopCap did its homework. They started small, generated a positive revenue flow through partnerships with Chinese companies and grew when demand for its games grew. Instead of the try before you buy strategy that PopCap uses in the U.S., PopCap mirrors the strategy of other Chinese companies and offers free versions of its most popular (and most illegally-downloaded) games, using the opportunity to promote its other products. Another key success factor is the company s profound dedication to its staff and its products. Because experienced online gaming talent was scarce, PopCap developed an extensive training system and provided ample opportunity and autonomy for employees to take ownership of its own games. PopCap s employee turnover rate is enviously low, and employees are gearing up to release exclusive only-in-china games, all while retaining the company-wide tenet of fun. Not everybody can live the PopCap story, but elements of its strategy including dedication to research and strong employee programs may prove to be valuable advice for any Western company that wants to crack the China market. j u n e i n s i g h t 1 3

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5 Chinese bureaucratic in-fighting as the Ministry of Culture and the GAPP fought for control of the lucrative market. AmCham Shanghai s China Business Report identified human resources constraints as a top challenge to American companies doing business in China, and the gaming market is no exception. Because the gaming industry is relatively new in China, those with experience and know-how are in short supply. It s difficult to find someone who has been in the business for more than 10 years and who knows and lives the gaming market, says Gwertzman, who hires locally. Hiring and retaining technical staff with game development experience and management staff to grow the business have proven to be particularly difficult in the online gaming market. A new business model Online gaming, however, is nothing if not a creative enterprise. While challenges may be daunting, the opportunity in the market has inspired the most innovative foreign companies to find alternative solutions. Like in most consumer markets, research is key to finding success, and redefining the brand or challenges is important to succeed. Gwertzman, for example, sees the pirated games trend as an opportunity instead of a hurdle to overcome. It indicates strong demand for his company s products and provides PopCap an opportunity to offer the real deal. Chinese consumers will look for higher-quality originals rather than the knockoffs, he says. Gwertzman tells the story of a pirated version of PopCap s Plants vs. Zombies game in China that recreated the original, which garnered negative reviews that characterized the game as a poor knock-off. PopCap took the opportunity to extend pirated software sites original, high-quality games for free, with modified content that promotes other PopCap games. Other companies are taking heed of this trend. Angry Birds creator Rovio partnered with Chinabased mobile gaming portal DownJoy to offer official and free versions of its game for Android devices, with revenue coming from advertising support. Rovio seeks to achieve 100 million free, advertising-supported downloads of the game, and is looking to develop the Angry Bird games for the Chinese market. There are opportunities for cooperation between Chinese and U.S. gaming companies, as well. Because of the lack of experience in games creation, Chinese companies may look to experienced foreign businesses to improve the quality of their products. They may also look to these businesses for distribution. The problem with the Chinese market is that the social networks are game developers themselves. There is a conflict of interest. If your games are popular, they [the social network companies] will not help you, and even squeeze you out, gaming company Rekoo founder Liu Yong has been quoted as saying. Rekoo reached out to Facebook in 2009, learned the ins and outs of social network games and today tops three million daily visitors for its games. If Gwertzman could offer any advice, it would be for companies to take their time entering the China market. I ve heard of other companies rushing, coming to China in the beginning of the week, putting together a deal and finishing off by the end of the week, he says. Good deals take time. PopCap is slowly nurturing its brand in China. They took time to find a Chinese partner that gradually and firmly handled regulatory compliance, hired promising talent early and trained their staff in the nuances and art of game creation. There are new frontiers to explore. The popularity of the iphone and the ipad in recent months only hints at the potential for additional growth. The profitability of their apps indicates that Chinese customers may be more willing to spend on high quality games. Like Rovio, PopCap is developing games exclusively for the China market. We re not looking for short term gains, PopCap s Senior Director of Business Development for the Asia/Pacific Giordano Contestabile has said. Investing time and effort into China s online gaming market offers much more than 8-bit rewards. Esther Young is an Associate Editor at Insight. She can be contacted at esther.young@amcham-shanghai.org. Gwertzman, for example, sees the pirated games trend as an opportunity instead of a hurdle to overcome. j u n e i n s i g h t 1 5