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The free-to-play market is gigantic worldwide, including the hundreds of millions of players within China. Nielsen’s SuperData Research Group found that revenue from free games increased 6 percent to $ 87.1 billion last year (about 80 percent of the total $ 109.4 billion for digital gaming revenue) . Research commissioned by firms like Mintegral and Newzoo say that most Chinese players prefer free play over premium games.
According to some experts within the Chinese gaming industry, the COVID-19 pandemic could help accelerate a change in the way those players spend their money. “We are starting to see mature Chinese players,” said Jeff Lyndon of iDreamSky, the largest independent mobile gaming publishing platform in China. “They are more reasonable with their spending patterns in the game.”
A panel of Chinese gaming industry experts discussed the effect COVID-19 has had on the region and its gaming industry on the second day of GamesBeat Summit 2020. An important issue is how players choose to invest their time and money when so many must stay home due to quarantine orders from local governments.
“Unlike what I’ve seen in the past, where Chinese players were known to spend without thinking, and consume everything in the game,” Lyndon said. “Chinese players are beginning to analyze their return on investment.”
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Lyndon emphasized that players are beginning to look at each game (and the study that developed it) and consider whether it is worth their time and money. He said he had noticed this change before the pandemic, but orders to stay home and loss of income have made evolution move faster.
COVID-19 has devastated China, but companies whose infrastructure relies on online ad sales and in-game purchases have been less affected, according to experts like Lyndon. But the pandemic has fundamentally changed the amount of revenue that ad sales and in-game purchases generate. Chinese game designers are trying to adjust their monetization models to lessen the impact their sources of income will receive.
“Game designers are trying to give more gift packages so that players can buy more at a discount,” said Cynthia Du of Cocos, the world’s largest open source game engine. “There is still a high demand for players to play games and buy things, but they don’t want to spend that much money.”
The free-to-play market will remain dominant after the pandemic, but all panelists agreed that Chinese players can be more selective about the type of games they will play and how they will spend their money. Game developers will have to work harder to save their players’ time.
“In our industry, content is king,” said Bill Wang of Skystone Games.. “If you have great content, you will get our attention.”
