China’s gaming industry is one that’s of particular interest to us, and July offered strong evidence that the market is rebounding with a 20% increase in revenue, following a 40% boost in June, according to Gamelook.
This increase is attributed in part to Tencent’s release of two new titles, Fearless Contract and Ark of Destiny.
Gamelook notes 12 games that proved to be massive successes in July, with seven of those titles being from Chinese developers. Of these twelve, four titles, all from Chinese publishers, achieved monthly turnover of over 100 million yuan ($11 million).
NetEase’s Naishuihan Mobile Game set a new record for monthly revenue in terms of domestic mobile MMO’s, with Gamelook estimating that the first month’s turnover was as high as two billion yuan ($220 million). Gamelook also reports that the title’s public beta achieved 11.389 million daily active users, and currently sits in the top 3 bestselling charts on iOS.
Mischief managed
Meanwhile, Crystal Core broke records for domestic action RPG titles, with revenue reaching 600 million yuan ($66 million) in just half a month.
Neolithic Age, the latest game in the franchise of the same name, proved to be something of a dark horse, with 100 million yuan ($14 million) in revenue on iOS and as much as 300 million yuan ($42 million) across platforms.
Harry Potter: Magic Awakened continued its successful stream, with 100 million yuan ($14 million) in global revenue. The game was released internationally on June 27 and while the game hasn’t reached the success of its initial release – the game generated $228 million within two months of its release in China, a total which would require a massive 1529% in its second month to match – it does highlight the continued passion for the franchise from gamers worldwide.
We listed NetEase and Tencent as two of the top 50 mobile game makers of 2022. We’ll be unveiling our list for 2023 at Gamescom on August 22.
