With the money from recent IPOs, the Chinese online video game makers are warming up engines for play in Western markets, challenging the industry leaders like Electronic Arts and Activision Blizzard on their own turf.
After thriving in the country, companies like Shanda Games Changyou and want a piece of Chinese export machine and send their products abroad.
Changyou, which grossed $ 120 million (about EUR 80 million) from an initial public offering on Nasdaq in April, is in final testing phase of its online multiplayer game martial arts, Dragon Oath to the market of the United, whose commercial launch is expected in late 2009 or early 2010.
The company began testing the game in Europe in August.
Many American players still prefer consoles like Microsoft Xbox and Sony Playstation before playing online.
But analysts say a change is happening slowly but surely towards online gaming, more flexible formats that allow multiple players and can be used from any terminal with Internet access or mobile phone. Chinese developers are embracing the trend.
"The western markets are changing, a market dominated by consoles but I think the MMO (massive multiplayer games, for its acronym in English) will be the next fashion," said Atul Bagga, analyst at research firm ThinkEquity.
"EA and Take Two Interactive are strong console side, but online gaming is a very different animal," he said.
With over 50 million players online, China is expected to hog more than 40 percent of the world market by 2011, according to research firm Samsung Securities.
Where gaming operators in Asia have taken the lead is in their business model of micro-transactions where players pay nothing for the game itself, but small fees each time they want to purchase an upgrade, either a map or weapon .
This differs from the current business model in the U.S. and Europe, which relies on subscriptions.
Analysts say companies like Chinese computer games and Percent Changyou World have operational experience and business model to compete with global rivals.
In September, Shanda Interactive created its game unit, Shanda Games, to expand abroad.
The console market in the United States accounts for about half of the entire market for video games and software for the consoles is estimated to involve around 26,000 million dollars in profits in 2009, according to Samsung Securities and UBS.
The online games sector is growing rapidly and is expected to grow profits by 21 percent to more than 13,000 million in 2010, while video games will fall by 5 percent, according to Samsung Securities.
No comments:
Post a Comment