THE COMING
CHINESE WAVE
History, Overview and
Trends of Online Games
in China
(in10 minutes)
FRANK YU
SHOUJI MOBILE ENTERTAINMENT

BACKGROUND
•Chinadotcom Ion Global (CDC)
•Principal Researcher Wireless and Games
•Microsoft Xbox (PC Games, Mac, Peripherals)
•First Asia Regional Business Manager
•Microsoft Research Asia
•Researcher Asia Cnter for Interactive Design
•MS IE 7 /MS Media Center
•Program Manager
•MS Casual Games
•Producer / Started first game team in China
•Shouji Mobile Entertainment
•CSO/COO
Columnist
•Gamasutra (China Games)
•South China Morning Post (Beijing Byte)
•China Tech News
•Asia Pacific Management Forum

CHINA ONLINE GAME HISTORY
 Only about 10 years old as an industry
 Born from rampant piracy and low disposable income
 Similar to Korea in industry development and market
 3 Waves but all still operating
 Licensing / Portals / Korean-Taiwanese Games
 (2000-2003)
 China MMORPGS / Communities (2003-2007)
 Web Games/SNS (2007-Present)
 China Online Games becoming mainstream media
 Youth Media
 Regulated

KOREA AND CHINA GAME INDUSTRY
 Korean/China MMORPGs hierarchical and structured
 China /Korean follow 80/20 rule
 China Game market regulated like Korea
 Console ban
 .PC type games and UI (one handed gaming so players can smoke)
 China and Korea gamers love Blizzard
 Starcraft, Warcraft, Diablo (1 and 2) and DOTA are all still favorites
on LANs because they are well designed and free in Internet
Café/Bangs. WoW benefited from player familiarity

WAVE 1 LICENSED KOR-TWN MMORPGS
 Subscription Service based
 Localized and operated locally

WAVE 1 PORTALS AND TRADITIONAL GAMES
 Sohu (spun off online games unit twice)
 Sina
 Netease
 Shanda
 Kingsoft (China’s MS made no money on
productivity software but profitable on
games)

WAVE 2 CASUAL GAME COMMUNITIES
•Free to play
•Monetization from avatars
•And virtual goods

WAVE 2 ADVANCED CASUAL
•Free to Play
•Virtual Items
•Avatars
•Special Levels
•Appeals to women
•Audition
•Kart Rider

WAVE 3 CHINESE ADVANCED CASUAL
Chinese game companies have
Created their own versions of
Korean advanced casual games

WAVE 3 CHINESE MMORPGS
•Zhengtu Online shifted the industry
•Online/ Offline Event based gaming
•.Cafe Channel marketing and promotions
•Designed to be addictive/gambling
•Perfect World
•Export MMORPGs tech/licenses
•Blizzard/the9
•First to break ban on broadcast adv.
•Western game design and backstory
•Pre-paid cards

WAVE 3 WEB GAMES / SOCIAL GAMES
 Kaixin001
 Parking wars
 Friends for sale
 Trevian & Clones
 Browser vs. Client

GOVERNMENT REGULATORS
Main Overseers
 Ministry of Culture
 Ministry of Information Industry
 General Administration of Press and Publications
Also…
 State Administration of Radio, Film and Television
 Ministry of Commerce
 Public Security Bureau
JingJing and ChaCha Internet Cops

WHY THE GOVERNMENT WATCHES

TAKE AWAYS
 Virtual transaction / avatars
 Business model impacts game design
 Games as Media and Social Facilitators
 Games as FMCG consumables
 Channel marketing
 Online and offline events
 Fill lifestyle role

QUESTIONS
Contact:
 Frank.Yu@ShoujiMobile.com
 FrankYu@Gmail.com
 Twitter: Frankyu
Thank you