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Online Games Dominate Beijing Startonomics
Posted on June 14th, 2009 3 commentsFrank Yu, Gamasutra’s China game analyst and COO of Shouji, rocked the house in Beijing today as he gave an overview of the China games industry to attendees of Startonomics Beijing. China’s game industry is 10 years old and is dominated by the PC market – anything with a keyboard is popular.
Though there are many differences between the US and China games market, the one that stands out most is China’s ability to massively monetize games. Tencent, a leading Chinese web portal, social network and game developer, famously announced revenue of over $1 billion earlier this year, much of it coming from their avatar service.
From a cultural perspective, China’s “One Child” policy greatly impacts the way the Chinese interact with games. People play games in China because they are lonely and games offer an easy and relatively cheap escape into a highly active fantasy world. Games are much more than a form of entertainment. Aditionally, in China, games are made with a strong focus on audience behavior, so much so that there are a lot of games in China made for one-handed play — so people can smoke while playing!
View Frank’s presentation below.
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Geeks Climb the Great Wall of China
Posted on June 12th, 2009 No commentsDay two into the China leg of our trip, we spent the day sightseeing. We were blessed with amazing weather, a refreshing breeze and clear blue skies, which everyone tells me is incredible for Beijing. Our sightseeing group of seventeen played “half baked” on the two hour ride to the lush green mountainside. Half baked is a game where two people individually have to say the first word that comes to mind. Then a third person has to combine those two words to come up with a half-baked startup. Today’s half-baked winner was ElephantAnt.com – an online dating sight that matches small men with large women. Nice one, Dave!
The geeks stormed the steps up the Great Wall like champs and took the gondola back down. There were hardly any tourists at the part of the wall we visited, though there were plenty of vendors – oftentimes popping out of nowhere with offers of Wrigleys gum and cold water and beer.
Big thanks to Jenny Bai, creator of The Red Connect for hooking us up at the posh Westin Beijing Chaoyang, and big love to George Godula of Web2Asia for being the master tour guide and tech event organizer.