Honor of Kings maintains #1 position on China iOS game revenue chart in April
Niko Partners
The Leader in Asian and MENA Games Market Intelligence. Local experts with a global perspective.
New data from Sensor Tower shows that Honor of Kings was the #1 highest grossing iOS mobile game in China during April 2024, maintaining its position from the prior month. The top 10 chart continues to be dominated by Tencent, NetEase and MiHoYo games, with Alibaba's Three Kingdoms Tactics also charting at #9. Genshin Impact (MiHoYo), Fight of the Golden Spatula (Tencent), Fantasy Westward Journey Mobile (NetEase) and League of Legends: Wild Rift (Tencent) all saw an increase in their rank, charting between #3 to #6, respectively. Happy Fishing Master from Tuyoo Games, debuted at #15 on the chart, thanks to its simulation gameplay going viral on Douyin over the past month.
ByteDance has no plan to sell Moonton, appoints new CEO
ByteDance has appointed Zhang Yunfan as the new CEO of Moonton, as part of a strategic restructuring of its entire games business. Zhang, a former executive at Perfect World, joined ByteDance in April to lead the Shanghai-based company, replacing the studios co-founder and Co-CEO, Yuan Jing. Previously, while working with Perfect World, Zhang led the mobile game publishing business and became COO in 2015. He also oversaw the Chinese version of Dota 2 before leaving in 2016. According to a report by Bloomberg ByteDance has decided not to sell Moonton, opting for the leadership change instead. Moonton is now a standalone segment within ByteDance's gaming business alongside Nuverse and a UGC project. Moonton is preparing to launch Mobile Legends: Bang Bang in mainland China later this year, with over 8 million pre-registrations to date.
Niko Partners chat?with Savvy Games CEO?at GamesBeat Summit?
Niko Partners CEO and President Lisa Cosmas Hanson had?fireside chat with Savvy Games Group CEO Brian Ward?on May 20 at GamesBeat Summit 2024.?The event was full house as attendees learned more about Savvy's role in realizing Saudi Arabia's goals to become a global games and esports hub.?Saudi Arabia accounts for more than half of MENA games revenue, according to our MENA-3 Games Market.
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NPPA approves 96 domestic games in May 2024
The National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA), the regulator in charge of game approvals in mainland China, issued ISBNs for 96 domestic games on May 17, 2024, and announced the batch on May 20. There has been one batch of domestic games approved each month this year, with a total of 524 domestic games issued to date. There have also been 46 import games approved since the start of the year, taking the total number of licenses issued to 570. There were 90 ISBNs issued for mobile games this month and 6 games that were issued a license for both mobile and PC platforms. In addition to the new approvals, a total of 7 games had an update to previously issued ISBNs. This batch included licenses for medium sized game companies such as 37 Interactive, 4399, Century Huatong, Kingnet, and also Alibaba.
Saudi Arabia and Japan to collaborate on gaming and digital entertainment
Saudi and Japanese officials are exploring plans to localize gaming and digital entertainment offerings in the Kingdom. The news was confirmed at the Saudi Arabia-Japan Vision 20230 Business forum being held in Tokyo, Japan. A roundtable on digital entertainment discussed how the countries can collaborate across esports and gaming to build up Saudi Arabia's local games industry. The forum focused on promoting cultural exchange by creating content that appeals to both Japanese and Saudi audiences. Officials also discussed how to localize Japanese manga and anime by translating content through Saudi publishers, who will in turn distribute the content throughout the Middle East. They also agreed to explore co-publishing agreements to create new and original content.
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