At the Heart of Esports: Niko Partners at the Esports World Cup 2024 and New Global Sport Conference 2024

Esports World Cup has achieved a huge success, attracting more than 2 million fans, selling 175.000 tickets, and recording over 500 million viewers across all platforms. The event has marked a new era gaming, esports and entertainment, as we observed in the final part of our Esports World Cup blog post series.?

Read our writeup here,?including our takeaways from the New Global Sport Conference. Niko's CEO Lisa Hanson moderated a panel that discusses various critical topics, including the reckoning force of MENA games market and the importance of localization in MENA (for more details about this topic, check out our free whitepaper jointly published with Saudi Esports Federation).

Read our EWC and NGSC takeaways

RELATED: Esports Awards 2024 recognizes the Philippines as a rising region?

The Philippines was recognized at the Esports Awards 2024 as and emerging region. The recognition in the "Esports Ones to Watch: Emerging Region" category took place at the awards, which was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as part of the inaugural Esports World Cup (Lisa was there!). According to the Esports Awards, the Esports Ones to Watch Award is "a distinguished honor that recognizes emerging talent within the esports industry".? We note that esports athletes from The Philippines have won numerous events across tournaments held around the world. Started in 2016, the Esports Awards is the sole awarding body that celebrates achievements in the esports industry. The organization recently announced a three-year partnership with the Esports World Cup to bring increased global attention to esports.?

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NPPA approves 117 domestic games on August 30?

The National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA), mainland China's regulator in charge of game approvals, issued ISBNs for 117 domestic games on August 30, 2024, with the batch published on the same day. There has been one batch of domestic games approved each month this year, with a total of 850 domestic games issued to date. There have also been 76 import games approved since the start of the year, taking the total number of licenses issued to 926. This batch included approvals for 104 mobile games, 2 PC game and 11 cross platform games of which 9 are PC & Mobile and 2 are PC & PlayStation. An additional 10 games were included on the ISBN update list which allows for existing ISBNs to add new platforms, publishers or game names. Large publishers including Tencent, NetEase, Perfect World, Alibaba, 4399, Seasun, 37 Interactive, Hypergryph, Yoozoo and Changyou received licenses in this batch.?

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The success of Black Myth: Wukong, explained by Niko Partners

As Black Myth: Wukong has taken the world by storm, Niko Partners is following the game closely and sharing our take on the game's success to various news outlets.?The game's popularity has led to increased sales of PS5 and PC to boost in esports hotel and tourism. Watch Niko's CEO Lisa Cosmas Hanson speaking to CGTN on Wukong's spillover effect here. ? Niko's Vice President Zeng Xiaofeng shared his observation to Reuters on how Black Myth: Wukong boosts the whole Chinese games industry here. Our Director of Research & Insights Daniel Ahmad was talking to NPR about how the success of Black Myth: Wukong could inspire the development of AAA games based on historical/mythological stories in the future. Listen to the episode here.?

Read our blog about Black Myth:Wukong here

Saudi’s PIF to transfer all gaming stocks to Savvy Games Group?

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has announced it will transfer all of its current stakes in video game companies to Savvy Games Group, which is a subsidiary of the PIF. The transfer, scheduled for 2025, will allow PIF to leverage intellectual property across the Middle East as part of a wider strategy to diversify the kingdom’s economy. The PIF has taken a number of stakes in video game companies over the past few years including Electronic Arts, Take Two, Nintendo, Nexon, Capcom, NCSoft, SNK, Koei Tecmo and more. In 2023 it purchased a $265 million stake in Chinese esports company VSPO.??

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