Mobile games are dominating the gaming market in Southeast Asia, according to a 2019 Newzoo report by gamesindustry.biz. Statistics show that mobile revenue makes up almost 70 percent of the region’s total gaming revenue, as opposed to 22 percent from PC gaming, and console gaming at 8 percent. While all market segments demonstrate growth, mobile is growing at the fastest rate. The SEA market is expected to generate $2.6 billion in mobile games revenue by the end of 2019. Niko Partners also reported that the region’s profits, combined with that of Chinese Taipei for both mobile and PC platforms, is expected to reach $8.3 billion in the next five years. These numbers can be partially attributed to the increasing scope of 5G networks and the growth of the esports industry.
Mobile gaming companies in Asia, such as Tencent, who is responsible for publishing Arena of Valor (AoV), and Garena, the publisher of Call of Duty Mobile (CoD Mobile) have significant contributions to the growth of the market. As of 2018, they have agreed to partner together for five years, granting Garena the right of first refusal to publish Tencent’s mobile and PC games in Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore. According to a press release on their partnership by the SCMP Post, “Southeast Asia has become a battleground for Chinese tech companies for its largely untapped online markets and rising middle class.”
One example of a popular mobile game in SEA is PUBG Mobile. After making a successful expansion to mobile, the battle royale game has found transcendent popularity. HP’s article on the 9 best cross-platform games even mentions how the mobile version runs smoother and looks better than its console counterpart. Similarly, Call of Duty Mobile has found massive success in the Indian market, coming only second to the US, with 17.5 million installs as of December 2019, according to Venture Beat’s global evaluation of the app’s success. Sensor Tower claims that CoD Mobile “continues to represent one of the most successful examples of translating a major console and PC property to mobile.”
The recently concluded SEA Games of 2019 has made eSports a medal event for the first time ever, with ABS-CBN’s news article reporting numbers reaching 20 million impressions with 90,000 concurrent viewers on Razer’s streaming platforms. There were six tournaments in total, with titles including Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Dota 2, Tekken, and AoV. Overall, the tournament received overwhelming support from fans around the globe, with audiences spending over 200,000 hours watching the streams on YouTube, making it one of the top 10 trending gaming videos worldwide. Without a doubt, this highly positive reception has cemented SEA’s growth in the mobile games arena.
Although recent partnerships and events have sped up the growth of SEA’s mobile games market, we can’t discount the key role of technological innovations such as VR, AR, and improved graphics and gameplay explored in a previous article on ‘Innovations Driving the Future of Mobile Gaming,’ that have led to an even more immersive gaming experience overall.
Featured-Image: Engadget
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