A brief insight into mobile games feature differences between the US and Asia markets. More information can be found at www.gamerefinery.com

1. China, U.S. and Japan
– A Snapshot of Main Differences in Games & Features
December 2017
GameRefinery
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2. Who are we?
GameRefinery
• Founded 4 years ago
• Headquartered in Helsinki, Finland
• ~20 staff
• International client base, independents,
developers, publishers, investors
• Growing 30% MoM in Q2,3,4 2017
Some of our clients
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3. We help improve revenue by analyzing features
Market Insights
Game Analyzer
• Realtime data dashboard
showing feature trends, feature
level analyses of your key
competitors and other
interesting games (~1600+)
• Multiple markets (West/Asia)
• Software to optimize the feature
set and revenue of your mobile
• Game
• Concept
• Design
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4. Differences in genre popularity – China, U.S. and Japan
Action RPGs are
extremely popular –
there are constantly
dozens of these
games in the
Chinese iOS top
grossing 200
Several hardcore
RPG games with
“single character
meta” in top 10
Not so many
casual/midcore
games in the highest
iOS top grossing
positions
Hardcore RPGs triumph Casual / midcore games of
different types triumph
Action RPGs are less
popular overall ->
only 1-2% of games in
top grossing 200 are
Action RPGs or
games of similar
nature
Lots of variety in
game types among
top 10 (and lower) top
grossing positions
Lots of
casual/midcore
games in the highest
iOS top grossing
positions (e.g. casino,
match3, word,
midcore RPGs etc.)
RPGs and other games
with character
collection / upgrading
meta are the “kings of
the hill”
High focus on
collaboration social
features instead of PvP
Story elements and
visual novel hybrid
mechanics much more
popular among top
games than in the west
RPGs with character collection
meta triumph
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5. Top
Grossing
Position
Density map for the mobile games
in the US Dec 2017
1
100
Density map for the mobile games in
ChinaDec 2017
Emphasis in gameplay ThinkReact
• When looking at what
kind of skills the top
performing games
emphasize, there is a
clear difference
between U.S. and
China
• 54% of top grossing
100 games in China
emphasize “reaction
based” skills (aiming,
steering, reaction),
whereas in the U.S.
the number is only 21%
Differences in emphasis in gameplay – China vs. U.S.
Emphasis in gameplay ThinkReact
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6. • Social and
competition related
features are trending
heavily and top
games across all
regions are taking
advantage of their
power.
• However, there are
differences between
these three great
markets when it
comes to utilization
rate of social and
competitive features
• Especially
competition and PvP-
related features are
more common in
Chinese top games
than they are in U.S.
& Europe and Japan.
Differences in social feature popularity
Feature popularity in top grossing 100 games per region
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7. Popular Chinese features not yet common in the West
• Pay a fixed amount to get rewards
& benefits in the game for a period
of time (usually 30 days)
• Players pay to get long term
bonuses that help speed up game
progression and beat other players
Monthly Subscription
Possibility to purchase missed
experience/resources
Possibility to increase random
roll odds with money
of US games utilize
15%Only of US games utilize
3%Only of all US games utilize
4%Only
• Pay hard currency / real money to
increase you chances of getting
better outcomes for
creating/upgrading items and
characters
• Players pay to avoid loss of
resources and to minimize non-
profitable grinding
• Pay hard currency / real money to
get experience / resources you lost
because you didn’t have the time to
play
• Players pay to get experience and
resources so they don’t have to
spend as much time playing
“Pay to win” is normal in China – in the West it can decrease retention if too aggressive
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8. Importance ofvisual theme in China, Japan and the West
Having a specific visual theme is not as crucial for success in the West as it is in China and Japan
• Significant share of top games are based on
either of the two Chinese folklores:
1) “Journey to the West”
2) “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”
• “Chinese fantasy” and “Chinese manga”
styles are really popular among all games
China US & Europe
• Huge variety of visual themes and
background stories shared with top
games (fantasy, scifi, historic, modern
etc.)
• Visual theme doesn’t play as big role
when it comes to success – you can be
successful with any visual style (realistic,
cartoon, manga/anime etc.)
Japan
• Significant share of top games have a
“hybrid” world that matches fantasy
or sci-fi elements with modern era.
This resembles the Japanese
anime/manga scene, where hybrid
world is almost a norm.
• Manga/Anime style is, as one might
expect, much more popular than in
the West
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9. Thank you!
Kay Gruenwoldt
kay@gamerefinery.com
+31 642 119 072
WeChat KayGSquid
www.gamerefinery.com
© 2017 GameRefinery Oy – All rights reserved