First Half 2014 Japan Video Game Console Sales Flat

JULY 9, 2014 • Japanese game publication Famitsu has released a tally of Japan video game console hardware sales in Japan for the first six months of 2014. Despite the PlayStation 4’s recent launch in the market last February the sales leader was the Nintendo 3DS at 1.1 million units. The PlayStation Vita was second at 639,730, in third at 613,785 was the PS4, The PS3 was fourth at 300,386, while fifth was held by the Wii U at 291,605. What’s more, F.....

PlayStation 4 Heads to China

MAY 27, 2014 • Sony Computer Ent. has set up two joint ventures with state-owned Shanghai Oriental Pearl Co. Ltd. to release the PlayStation 4 to China. One of the joint ventures will be responsible for console hardware manufacturing and sales; while the other is concerned with software development, distribution, marketing, and network services. The agreement runs for 10 years and will be operated out of the .....

Tencent Mobile Game Revenue Triples in First Quarter

MAY 15, 2014 • In first quarter financial reporting Tencent Holdings Ltd. announced that its smartphone mobile games revenue tripled from 600 million yuan ($96.3 million) to 1.8 billion yuan ($289 million) from the previous quarter. During the period the paying player base for this mobile content more than doubled. For the quarter ending March 31 mobile revenue accounted for 17.4% of the 10.4 bi.....

China Online Games Reach $13.1 Billion

MAY 1, 2014 • China’s Ministry of Culture released its annual report noting that the domestic China online games industry generated 81.9 billion yuan ($13.1 billion) in revenue during 2013, an increase of 36.3% over 2012. Giant Interactive Group Inc., Kingsoft, Netease, Perfect World Ent. Inc., SNDA, Sohu Changyou.com, and Tencent Holdings Ltd. accounted for 54.4 billion yuan ($8.7 billion) of the total. Client and web content generated 69.1 billion yuan (.....

Yodo1 Interview: China Mobile Localization

APRIL 22, 2014 • Yodo1 Interview: With 3G and 4G mobile networks spreading coverage throughout China it is no surprise that overall smartphone penetration is growing significantly with a corresponding demand for mobile game content. That is a very tempting scenario for Western mobile game studios looking to expand revenue. Yet China is a very different market.  There are a dizzying number of players in discovery and billing on top of picky consumers with distin.....