How to Get More Chinese Gamers. 6 Facts You Need to Know

Thinking of gaining more Chinese players? Congratulations. The journey is just beginning.

You might have some reasons for holding you back, like policy restrictions, language barriers, or cultural differences. Or you might have no idea when, where, and how to start.

At The Game Marketer, we are passionate about inspiring game developers/gaming companies and giving you the tools and knowledge, you need to succeed to market your games. Below, we have compiled 6 reasons/facts for you to consider for making it a reality.

With 720 million game players in 2021, the Chinese gaming industry is the biggest in the world, which is larger than the total sum of players number from US, Japan, and the whole Europe! The huge market offers a lot of opportunities for developers and others in the gaming ecosystem. Marketing in China can be different and there are some barriers to entry but given the size of the market it will pay off in the end.

Do not be deterred from kicking off your marketing campaign until your game is ready to launch, it is important to build game awareness among potential players from an early date to give your game the best possible chance of success when it launches.

Although the main western digital media are blocked, like Google, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, there are many platforms that share similar features. China has the equivalent ones like Baidu (the biggest Chinese search engine), WeChat (the most popular social media), Youku (one of the largest video platforms), Bilibili (the biggest Chinese video sharing website), etc... There are some rules of contents on social media need to follow. Some terms need to be avoided, such as violence, general comments of gaming topics are open on Chinese social media.

According to the China Gamers Report from Niko Partners, 48% of gamers in China are female. When traditional gaming market getting saturated, female players are now considered important consumers. The Jianwang III from MMO, the national-level mobile game "King of Glory", and "The Legend of Concubine Xi", female accounts for about half of the overall game players. “Love and Producer”, which was released in 2018, 94.2% of this game are girls, according to the monitoring results of Aurora Big Data. Some research analysts concluded, female-oriented games in China might just be the next massive thing, as a golden mine to be discovered.

Let us take Steam as an example, Chinese users' number is over 30 million, about one-third of its global total. The Steam international store can be accessed in the Chinese language, and users can pay in local currency, but games sold in the store do not go through Chinese regulatory review, as all these are happened on Steam global site.

Cultural norms shape how the video game industry makes money. The impact of games on a Chinese player's life goes beyond just providing "fun". Games help broaden their social life and give them a sense of accomplishment, especially with experiences they cannot get in the real world. From this insights, Chinese game players are more likely to pay for winning a video game.

Marketing your game in China is not as difficult as you thought, it is possible and achievable. You just need to find the right agency partners.

With years of experience helping game companies find more Chinese players, The Game Marketer can help you understand your Chinese audience as well as the best marketing channels for your games. We will help you to outline and deliver the right video game marketing strategy to level up your brand marketing in China. Contact us now to book a free consultation.