Indonesia Mobile Game
Industry
_________________________
By Phuong Vu
November 2013
IDG VENTURES VIETNAM
Overview Market
•  Indonesia is “Asia’s Next Big Opportunity” high growth rate
and young population (average age is 25)
•  Feature phone still accounts for 80% of mobile phone users(Nokia commands
the biggest share with around 40 million mobile internet users (potential
feature phone gamers)
•  Internet-capable feature phones remain an incredibly
popular means of getting online
•  Internet usage in Indonesia is still in the early phase with the dominance of
social network and messaging.There is many potential for gaming
Source: TechinAsia
Indonesia Smartphone Phone Market
Smartphone users
Smartphone share
For mobile phone vendors:
•  Samsung is the smart phone market leader
•  Apple's market share is tiny
For platform:
•  Android is the dominance platform with roughly 60%
Smartphone
ownership
rise to 24%
Mobile phone
reach 84% of
population
Smartphone users
will reach over 100
million in 2017
(Android dominance)
èFeature phone will
still be present
Source: IDC, eMarketer
Indonesia Game Industry Overview
Client Based Web based Mobile game
8-10 million players
ARPPU ranges from $3-$12
Around 20 players
Market sizes ~ 95 million
Approximately 12 million players
ARPPU ranges from $0.5 to $2
Dominated with Facebook Games,
especially Zynga
Poker is the most popular
Market size ~ 24 million
•  The game industry is still very new (immature)
•  The market is less than that ofVietnam
•  No exact data about the industry (no proper research have been conducted)
Most player is local content
provider act as publisher
ARPU ranges from $0.2-$0.8
Average lifetime revenue of
good games is around $8000
Source: Collected
Indonesia Mobile Game Players
Local Content Providers Foreign publishers
•  Most LC Providers are indie developers (~20 employees)
Mobile Payment Ecosystem
•  PayPal users and credit card holders are rare.
•  60 million bank customer &16 million credit cards
holder (compare to ~240 million population)
•  Not a popular payment method, users want linear/
easy method
Online
payment
Direct
carrier billing
•  SNS, carrier credit, etc.
•  Telcos demand huge shares for transactions (~60%)
•  Common credit balance around $0.5-$1. Most
credit top-up is $1
•  Most common payment method as of now
Platform Distribution
OTT
Local Content Distributors
Traditional Appstore
•  Limited iOS users in Indonesia
•  Google Apps does not yet support Android developers in Indonesia
who wish to monetize their apps through direct sales or in-app
purchases.
•  The only way to make money from an Android app in Indonesia is to
integrate advertising into the app
•  Gameloft appstore partners with telcos to let user purchases apps/
items
•  JalanTikus: biggest appstore startup. 1 million monthly
active users.
•  Speedup, Smartfen: exclusive for specific smartphone
and tablet devices.
•  TemanDev: created by largest teco,Telkomsei. Helped
local startup to market products.
•  Market share between LINE, Kakao Talk,Whatsapp and Wechat.
•  However, LINE is the the dominance platform distribution.
•  Kakao Talk just brought its social gaming platform to Indonesia in May
Feature Phone Platform Distribution
•  6-10 million users
•  Social gaming network: gaming, friends, interaction
•  Easy integration using HTML
•  Wide distribution (reach users of top
telcos in SEA
•  Effective Monetization (monetize with SMS
billing
•  Funded by Singtel & Softbank
•  65 million users globally (35 million in Indonesia)
•  Social gaming network: gaming, friends, interaction (stronger social
interaction compare to Kotagames)
•  Partner with major telcos such as Telkomsel & major handset
brands in Indonesia
•  Also launched on Google’s Android to answer to the growing market
needs
Source: Companies website, collected
Indonesia Top Game Apps
•  Top grossing apps are dominated by foreign players.
•  Top publishers are consistent across different
platform as US and Japan is main players
•  LINE has a really strong presence in Indonesia both
as an OTT and a mobile gaming platform
•  The poor performance of local developers are
mainly due to the fact that Google Play doesn’t
support local developers to sell premium games
and in-app purchases, while a majority of
developers as well as players are from Android
platform
Source: Appannie
Indonesia Gaming Composition
•  Casual games and Strategy games are very popular
in Indonesia
•  Strategy games with western storyline is doing very
well and looks similar with each other
•  Card battle gains decent attention from players but
could better compare to gaming trends in Asia
•  There are definitely a lot of room for innovation and
diversification of gamers
Source: Appannie, collected
Challenges in the market
There is still no solid payment channel system to monetize
Low Infrastructure, there is a big gap between big cities and smaller cities
Big market population, but low ARPU
Feature phones popularity come with limitations: can’t handle heavy
animated artwork
How to tap in the market?
Recipe for Great Feature Phone
Games
Source: TMG
How to tap in the market?
Highly recommend developing partnership with telcos
•  Telcos serve the biggest paying service for first time internet mobile users
•  Telco, such as Telkomsel, has their own Appstore to promote games & apps. It’s the easiest way to distribute
products to a large pool of customers.
Aggressively engage in the mobile feature phone market
•  It’s not about who has the money, but who is willing to pay.
With feature phone users, they have less money to spend, but
they are more willing to spend
•  Feature phone users are accustomed of paying for content
(different with smartphone cultural where everything is free
on the internet)
•  It is simply targeting a very large pool of potential users (80%
of mobile users)
•  In three to five years, Android will start to take over
TMG, a mobile social game providers for
feature phone in Indonesia shows higher
revenue potential compared to US giants Zynga
Source: TMG
How to tap in the market?
Localize our best products into Indonesia market
•  MC Corp has a very strong portfolio of strategy and RPG games and should localize it to
the Indonesia market
•  Indonesia mobile game market does not just lack RPG games, but also lack games with story
line from Asia/China

[Industry Report] Indonesia Mobile games

  • 1.
    Indonesia Mobile Game Industry _________________________ ByPhuong Vu November 2013 IDG VENTURES VIETNAM
  • 2.
    Overview Market •  Indonesiais “Asia’s Next Big Opportunity” high growth rate and young population (average age is 25) •  Feature phone still accounts for 80% of mobile phone users(Nokia commands the biggest share with around 40 million mobile internet users (potential feature phone gamers) •  Internet-capable feature phones remain an incredibly popular means of getting online •  Internet usage in Indonesia is still in the early phase with the dominance of social network and messaging.There is many potential for gaming Source: TechinAsia
  • 3.
    Indonesia Smartphone PhoneMarket Smartphone users Smartphone share For mobile phone vendors: •  Samsung is the smart phone market leader •  Apple's market share is tiny For platform: •  Android is the dominance platform with roughly 60% Smartphone ownership rise to 24% Mobile phone reach 84% of population Smartphone users will reach over 100 million in 2017 (Android dominance) èFeature phone will still be present Source: IDC, eMarketer
  • 4.
    Indonesia Game IndustryOverview Client Based Web based Mobile game 8-10 million players ARPPU ranges from $3-$12 Around 20 players Market sizes ~ 95 million Approximately 12 million players ARPPU ranges from $0.5 to $2 Dominated with Facebook Games, especially Zynga Poker is the most popular Market size ~ 24 million •  The game industry is still very new (immature) •  The market is less than that ofVietnam •  No exact data about the industry (no proper research have been conducted) Most player is local content provider act as publisher ARPU ranges from $0.2-$0.8 Average lifetime revenue of good games is around $8000 Source: Collected
  • 5.
    Indonesia Mobile GamePlayers Local Content Providers Foreign publishers •  Most LC Providers are indie developers (~20 employees)
  • 6.
    Mobile Payment Ecosystem • PayPal users and credit card holders are rare. •  60 million bank customer &16 million credit cards holder (compare to ~240 million population) •  Not a popular payment method, users want linear/ easy method Online payment Direct carrier billing •  SNS, carrier credit, etc. •  Telcos demand huge shares for transactions (~60%) •  Common credit balance around $0.5-$1. Most credit top-up is $1 •  Most common payment method as of now
  • 7.
    Platform Distribution OTT Local ContentDistributors Traditional Appstore •  Limited iOS users in Indonesia •  Google Apps does not yet support Android developers in Indonesia who wish to monetize their apps through direct sales or in-app purchases. •  The only way to make money from an Android app in Indonesia is to integrate advertising into the app •  Gameloft appstore partners with telcos to let user purchases apps/ items •  JalanTikus: biggest appstore startup. 1 million monthly active users. •  Speedup, Smartfen: exclusive for specific smartphone and tablet devices. •  TemanDev: created by largest teco,Telkomsei. Helped local startup to market products. •  Market share between LINE, Kakao Talk,Whatsapp and Wechat. •  However, LINE is the the dominance platform distribution. •  Kakao Talk just brought its social gaming platform to Indonesia in May
  • 8.
    Feature Phone PlatformDistribution •  6-10 million users •  Social gaming network: gaming, friends, interaction •  Easy integration using HTML •  Wide distribution (reach users of top telcos in SEA •  Effective Monetization (monetize with SMS billing •  Funded by Singtel & Softbank •  65 million users globally (35 million in Indonesia) •  Social gaming network: gaming, friends, interaction (stronger social interaction compare to Kotagames) •  Partner with major telcos such as Telkomsel & major handset brands in Indonesia •  Also launched on Google’s Android to answer to the growing market needs Source: Companies website, collected
  • 9.
    Indonesia Top GameApps •  Top grossing apps are dominated by foreign players. •  Top publishers are consistent across different platform as US and Japan is main players •  LINE has a really strong presence in Indonesia both as an OTT and a mobile gaming platform •  The poor performance of local developers are mainly due to the fact that Google Play doesn’t support local developers to sell premium games and in-app purchases, while a majority of developers as well as players are from Android platform Source: Appannie
  • 10.
    Indonesia Gaming Composition • Casual games and Strategy games are very popular in Indonesia •  Strategy games with western storyline is doing very well and looks similar with each other •  Card battle gains decent attention from players but could better compare to gaming trends in Asia •  There are definitely a lot of room for innovation and diversification of gamers Source: Appannie, collected
  • 11.
    Challenges in themarket There is still no solid payment channel system to monetize Low Infrastructure, there is a big gap between big cities and smaller cities Big market population, but low ARPU Feature phones popularity come with limitations: can’t handle heavy animated artwork
  • 12.
    How to tapin the market? Recipe for Great Feature Phone Games Source: TMG
  • 13.
    How to tapin the market? Highly recommend developing partnership with telcos •  Telcos serve the biggest paying service for first time internet mobile users •  Telco, such as Telkomsel, has their own Appstore to promote games & apps. It’s the easiest way to distribute products to a large pool of customers. Aggressively engage in the mobile feature phone market •  It’s not about who has the money, but who is willing to pay. With feature phone users, they have less money to spend, but they are more willing to spend •  Feature phone users are accustomed of paying for content (different with smartphone cultural where everything is free on the internet) •  It is simply targeting a very large pool of potential users (80% of mobile users) •  In three to five years, Android will start to take over TMG, a mobile social game providers for feature phone in Indonesia shows higher revenue potential compared to US giants Zynga Source: TMG
  • 14.
    How to tapin the market? Localize our best products into Indonesia market •  MC Corp has a very strong portfolio of strategy and RPG games and should localize it to the Indonesia market •  Indonesia mobile game market does not just lack RPG games, but also lack games with story line from Asia/China