50 billion dollars: the video game market in China moves to the console

The Chinese market for console hardware and software, banned in the country for 14 years, is only 1% of the revenues of the gaming sector. A market that, globally, is expected to be worth 49.2 billion in 2025. For 14 years, gaming consoles such as those developed by Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo have been banned from China. But the ban was finally lifted in 2014. Over this long period there has always been a sort of gray market where consoles have been sold but have remained a marginal phenomenon. Big Chinese game developers like Tencent and NetEase have mostly worked on PC and mobile projects. But now things are rapidly changing. Chinese tech giants, along with a new generation of game developers, are working to take advantage of the growth of consoles, not only in China but also abroad. Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo have recently launched their next generation gaming consoles in China. A market, that of consoles, which is worth 30% of the revenues of the entire gaming sector but which in China is still at 1%. More broadly, China’s gaming console hardware and software market reached $ 1.84 billion in 2020 and is expected to hit $ 2.46 billion in 2025, according to Niko Partners. Still nothing to do with mobile and PC gaming revenue hitting $ 29.2 billion in 2020. Globally, the console market is expected to generate revenue of $ 49.2 billion. 28% of the global games market, according to market research firm Newzoo. New developers such as Studio Surgical Scalpels are making games dedicated to the global market, with particular attention to “first-person shooters”, while the Chinese Big Tech games , aka Tencent and NetEase, are definitely targeting the console market too: in 2019, NetEase opened a gaming company in Montreal, Canada, to help with international expansion and another studio in Japan dedicated to game production. for consoles. Tencent’s growth in games is also moving through acquisitions and investments in studios focused on mobile devices, but also in companies that produce already ochi for PC and consoles: around half of the 51 investments in 2021 were made in this sector. All with the aim of competing with the big US or Japanese developers in terms of advanced production processes and investments in large teams able to guarantee quality titles on a large scale to reach the widest possible audience and the largest number. of platforms.