Chinese games are drawing in users around the world. Analysts say that Chinese companies that have copied foreign games for decades in the past have now grown to the level of creating globally appealing content.At the Gamescom Video Game Fair in Cologne on August 24, a woman showed interest in Chinese game company Mihoyo’s fantasy action role-playing game Wonshin. Citing market research firm Sensor Tower, it reported that 29 of the top 100 mobile games that earned the most money in the global market (excluding China) until September this year were developed by Chinese companies. Japan followed with 15, the United States with 14, and Korea with 13.The biggest markets for Chinese games are the United States and Japan. As of the first half of this year, Chinese mobile games generated $2 billion in sales in the United States alone. The U.S. alone has earned about one-third of global sales.Chinese game companies are turning to the global market as the Chinese authorities strengthen domestic regulations by restricting the issuance of new games (service permits in China) and reducing the amount of time minors use games. China’s Tencent and NetEase have actively supported game developers by acquiring stakes in overseas game studios. “Chinese companies are moving faster than foreign competitors and invest much more actively in game projects and manpower,” said Sergan Toto, CEO of game consulting firm Kantan Games.
Against this backdrop, global hits are also coming out. China-developed “Genshine Impact” and “Age of Origin” boast hundreds of millions of users around the world. Western and Japanese game companies are strong in console games, while Chinese companies are strong in mobile games, which account for half of global video game industry sales.The role-playing game Wonshin, released by Shanghai-based game company Mihoyo in 2020, is considered the first Chinese game to be successful worldwide. The Wonshin mobile version has sales of $5.16 billion over the three years since its launch. Based on the popularity of original singers, Mihoyo held original concerts in eight countries last month. The “Collapse: Starrail” mobile game released by Mihoyo in April this year is also estimated to have achieved global sales of $500 million in the first three months, similar to the early days of original release.The Chinese game industry has been evaluated as imitating the success of global game companies for decades, but now it is beyond that level, WSJ diagnosed. China’s martial arts action role-playing game “Black Xinhua Okong,” which is about to be released, is already drawing attention on social networking services (SNS) for its high-quality work and dark and strange story lines.However, he pointed out that as Chinese games increase in popularity, they can be investigated by overseas authorities like TikTok. Some global users reported that there were cases of censoring politically sensitive terms such as Taiwan and Hong Kong in chat functions among original games. U.S. security experts are also raising concerns that China can access data collected by games.
EJ SONG
US ASIA JOURNAL
