How would you feel if your boss bought you the hottest video game on the market and gave you several days off work to enjoy it? 

This is exactly what happened when the extremely popular, Chinese-made game Black Myth: Wukong came out in August 2024. Many companies in China, including Sichuan Muziyang Technology and Shanghai developer Gamera Games, gave employees a day off to play the game. Many even bought the game for employees so they could fully enjoy the domestic masterpiece. More than 20 million copies of the first triple-A title were sold in a month. The meteoric rise of the game signals the temperature of the gaming market in China for 2025 and beyond. 

A market with 722 million gamers

There are an estimated 722 million gamers in China, taking into account PC, mobile, console and VR/AR gaming and esports. Mainland China alone has over 320 million PC gamers – roughly the entire population of the USA – according to The China Gamer Behaviour and Markets Report by Niko Partners 2024. The report surveyed 1,079 gamers in April 2024; 19% of PC gamers claimed they spent at least 30% more on titles than last year. 

China’s internet firewall blocks access to international gaming platforms like Steam. However, most gamers know how to use a virtual private network (VPN) to connect to the internet through a server in another country. As a result, despite the restrictions, Steam remains the most popular PC gaming platform in China, with nearly 80% of PC gamers using it for premium games. Additionally, there are about 50 million Chinese gamers living outside Mainland China who play on Western websites and apps.

The Chinese video games market therefore presents a significant opportunity for UK game developers. With the market expected to grow by 4.9% in 2024, reaching £38 billion, and projected to hit £43 billion by 2028, the potential for revenue is substantial. Mobile gaming is likely to continue to dominate, accounting for 68.7% of the market, followed by PC at 28.4% and console at 2.9%.

Gaming is a top revenue generator for the UK’s creative industries

In the UK, the video games market continues on a strong path of growth, reaching a value of £7.82 billion in 2023, a 4.4% rise from 2022, says UK Interactive Entertainment (UKIE), the leading trade body representing the UK’s video games and interactive entertainment sector. 

“The UK games industry is a global leader in creativity and innovation, with Chinese gamers playing a vital role in its international success,” says Sam Collins, Chief Commercial Officer, UKIE. “Their enthusiasm for UK-made games has driven significant investment from Chinese companies, which have established international offices here to leverage our exceptional talent and supportive regulatory framework. We look forward to deepening these connections and driving even greater growth together,” he says. 

How to market your video game in China 

London-based Oval Branding has been marketing British games to Chinese audiences since 2018. One of Oval Branding’s clients, Chatham-based Dovetail Games, is the world’s top simulation game company, with games including Train Sim World 5, City Transport Simulator: Tram and Fishing Sim World.

“At Dovetail Games, we take pride in being part of the UK’s vibrant and creative gaming sector, the leading contributor to the UK economy among all creative industries,” says Dan Holman, Director of Marketing at Dovetail Games. 

“As one of the fastest-growing markets, China presents an exciting opportunity for us. With the recent launch of Train Sim World 5, we are thrilled to have welcomed even more international and Chinese players into our gaming community,” says Holman.

Marketing Tip 1: Localisation and promoting Chinese cultural values

Localisation doesn’t just mean translating words accurately; it is about making sure the content fits the culture and preferences of the target audience. For example, launch dates might need to be changed because China is seven or eight hours ahead of the UK, so it could be the next day in China.

Games can use traditional Chinese art and music to create marketing materials that attract Chinese players. Social media campaigns can celebrate Chinese holidays and highlight values like community, family, and respect for elders. It is crucial that all content meets Chinese regulations and avoids any banned words or phrases, which are constantly changing.

An interesting example is Call of Duty, which added Chinese elements to the game, such as the use of weapons of the Chinese army and maps with Chinese characteristics. This has been extremely well received by gamers in China, with rave reviews on social media. 

Marketing tip 2: Short-form videos and influencers 

Short-form videos are taking the world by storm, and nowhere more so than in China. Forty five per cent of respondents in a Niko Partners report said they discovered video games by watching short-form content. TikTok’s Chinese equivalent, Douyin, has over 750 million daily active users spending an average of over two hours per day watching short videos and shopping. 

This gives gaming brands an invaluable opportunity to put their own short-form content in front of Chinese audiences, as well as to work with influencers (or KOLs, as they as they are known in China) to build brand awareness.

“You don’t necessarily need to find the biggest KOLs, just those that match your target audience,” says Shuangyang Zhao, Digital Media Manager for the KOL Steam Youxi @SteamGames, with 3 million followers across Douyin and Kuaishou. 

“We use a variety of techniques to market games, including live streaming. In addition, KOLs are increasingly sceptical about promotional videos, so it’s always better to give real gaming footage and game keys to try,” Zhao adds.

Marketing tip 3: Cross-promotions with non-gaming brands 

Cross-promotions with non-gaming brands can be a powerful strategy for raising brand awareness in China. By partnering with local brands and personalities, developers can tap into established customer bases and foster a sense of national pride. 

For example, during the promotion of Train Sim World 5 in September 2024, Dovetail Games collaborated with well-known Chinese train driver KOLs. This partnership added authenticity and visibility to the game, making the campaign a hit among Chinese audiences.

Another great example is Louis Vuitton’s collaboration with Riot Games for the 2019 League of Legends World Championship. Louis Vuitton designed a bespoke travel case, prestige skins and other digital assets, blending luxury with gaming in a unique way.

These case studies highlight how cross-brand promotions can create buzz and drive engagement in the Chinese market.

The future of China’s gaming market

As the UK gaming market continues to show promising growth, with an annual growth rate of 9.57% expected to reach £9 billion by 2027, UK developers have a golden opportunity to expand their reach by targeting gamers in China. By using the tips in this article to market games to China, UK developers can successfully tap into the promising Chinese market and foster a global gaming community. Kaitlin Zhang is the founder and CEO of Oval Branding.

Kaitlin Zhang is the founder and CEO of Oval Branding.

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In October 2023, Premier Li Qiang signed off on a new set of measures designed to create a safer online environment for China’s youth. The regulations, China’s most comprehensive child internet safety laws yet, will task educators and technology companies with tackling data privacy, cyberbullying, and, of course, the dreaded wangyin (internet addiction). Part of this will be through the implementation of built-in minor protection features in apps, websites and programs that help educate youngsters and restrict their usage. The new rules come into effect on 1 January 2024.

One can readily sympathise with China’s fears about the shifting internet landscape. Since 2019, when gaming addiction was still the government’s prime target, short videos on platforms like Douyin (the Chinese TikTok) and Kuaishou have become ubiquitous and, for many, are becoming the go-to form of entertainment. Around the world, parents, individuals and governments are rightfully concerned about the addictive nature of social media, as well as its potential for facilitating the exploitation of vulnerable people.

Below the surface of China’s ambitious plan, however, lurk different but interlocking fears about the suzhi, or “quality”, of the next generation. State media has likened gaming to opium, a drug whose voracious use in Qing-era China is tightly associated with the “century of humiliation” that began with the First Opium War. The argument goes that internet addiction, if let loose upon the population, could create an unmotivated and ineffective workforce that cannot contribute to the country’s development, from the perspective of the political leadership.

This framing could risk overlooking a much bigger threat: a long-term youth mental health crisis created by a hyper-competitive education system and compounded by economic woes. It is highly contested whether excessive gaming or internet usage constitute addictions comparable to drug or alcohol addiction. In fact, some theorise that the internet is less a cause and more a symptom of Chinese young people’s problems, serving as “a sanctuary where troubled youth seek solace and emotional escape”, as anthropologist Jie Yang puts it. Even if the internet is the core contributing factor to young people’s poor mental health, can the new restrictions really prevent excessive and detrimental gaming and internet usage?

This winter marks four years since the first gaming restrictions were put in place and another two since they were further tightened. Last year, a state-associated gaming regulator declared that the policy had effectively solved the problem of gaming addiction. Putting self-reported data to one side, the jury is still out on whether these kinds of measures really work. One study led by researchers from the University of York and published by the journal Nature in August found “no credible evidence” for the reduction of “excessive playtime”, which is classed as spending more than four hours per day, six days per week playing video games, as a result of China’s gaming curfew.

The authors of this paper theorise that the “highly federated” nature of the games industry could have led to ineffective policy. Individual game providers are responsible for recording the real age of players and restricting their gameplay accordingly. Enforcement is then inconsistent across providers. “Top-down regulation may be able to secure compliance from large corporations who have the resources to effectively identify and police their player bases and have become prime targets of political intervention in China. It is less clear how compliance is easy to affect and police for thousands of small companies,” the research paper states.

The same issue is likely to come up when these measures are applied to all apps and platforms, but on a much bigger scale. Meanwhile major stakeholders in charge of China’s super-apps, like Tencent, Sina and ByteDance, are likely to comply as best they can to avoid retaliations. But loopholes will become rife in the hands of smaller app developers.

As has been the case with the gaming restrictions so far, under-18s will inevitably find workarounds. Logging into an adult’s social media account or lying about their age when they sign up are easy ways minors can evade controls on what content they can see and how long they can browse for. But, if the self-reported data from China’s gaming industry holds any water, these kinds of measures may be enough to nudge habits in a slightly healthier direction. The ongoing mental health crisis, however, will eventually need to be tackled head-on.

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1. Key Opinion Leaders will give way to Key Opinion Consumers 

Key Opinion Consumers create a better product circle

KOCs (Key Opinion Consumers) are individuals that brands have conscripted to sell and advocate on behalf of products. They help to ‘seed’ products into communities and groups they are part of – namely on WeChat – and then encourage group purchases. The goal in working with KOCs is to identify people within these groups who are already (authentically) talking about the brands products – and then, look to incentivise and support them further – to more vigorously advocate for the brand. By selecting individuals who are already advocates for the brand within small communities, the additional aim, is to have them stimulate user-get-user sales.

2. The answer to WeChat fatigue: Interest-based communities

Has WeChat’s growth peaked?

While ‘Super Apps’ (WeChat, Alipay and others) dominate and hold the largest share of Monthly Active Users (MAUs), they have become, by many accounts, too crowded, too noisy and too commercial.

Depending on the source of data, WeChat usage is either growing slightly or in decline. It might have peaked its capacity of attraction. For these reasons, there is something of a counter-movement growing, with audiences seeking more austere, clean environments where the focus is more on content and ideas, less on ads and e-commerce.

WeChat might have peaked its capacity of attraction. For these reason, there is something of a counter-movement growing

Several new platforms built around shared interests and community attracted attention in 2019. Tencent and Bytedance jumped (further) into this space in 2019, with Tencent-backed Jike, and Bytedance’s launch of Feiliao. Sina also offered up a new platform called Oasis which was designed to fit into this set of apps trying to (1) satisfy interest-based communities, and (2) create less commercial, more simple interfaces. None of these recent launches has had profound success yet, as perhaps they are not going far enough to satisfy audience needs.

3. Podcasts Turning Up The Volume

Podcasts are on the rise

Audio continues to prove that it has a strong place in the media mix. There are several trends that support an increase in audio-form (podcasts & narratives);

1. Audience burnout and overstimulation with video
2. The increasing effectiveness of audio-based AI (Alexa or Siri)
3. People are constantly on the go and too busy for appointment viewing of video

The Coronavirus might have delayed this shift from video to audio a little, as long commutes and time in the gym have been replaced by time on the sofa.

4. 5G will be the new frontier for long-form videos and AR

Augmented reality will help customisation

Bytedance has been stealing the limelight of long-form videos in recent years. The current completion rate for watching video ads on mobile is very low when compared with desktop, so the speculation is that 5G will improve the viewing experience on mobile – and viewership stats for ads. The feasibility of many Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality concepts will also be improved. So, keep an eye on these functions to make the most of the benefits of 5G:

– Mobile games and game streaming apps

– Traditional video platforms with quality, long-form content, such as iQiyi, Youku, Tencent Video.

– Live-streaming sites

– WeChat and Weibo re-launching existing features such as Vlogs

5. Gaming And e-Sports

In-game advertising in e-sports will grow

Gaming and e-sports should become priority areas for branding in the coming years.

Several brand cross-over promotions have been very successful. Youth audiences in China are shifting their time and attention further toward video games. 2019 saw some notable brand collaborations in this space – including two from luxury brands (LV and MAC).

Instead of trying to make their own video games, brands should be looking into these sorts of collaborations, where they can tap into a hyper-engaged audience of fans and add value to the experience/environment of the game with product placements, virtual goods, e-Sports sponsorships or with co-branded (physical) products (such as MAC did with Tencent’s Honor of Kings game).

If you choose the right partner brand, this boost of awareness should come with the benefit of also gaining access to a new audience.

Download the full report here or contact Chris Baker, Managing Director of Totem Media

For more information on China’s creative sector contact Chris Lethbridge 

The post Five Marketing Trends for 2020 appeared first on Focus - China Britain Business Council.

With over 619 million gamers and a market forecast to be worth £32 billion by 2022, the recent thaw in the Chinese games approvals process presents an exciting opportunity for the internationally renowned UK games sector. The UK’s proven expertise in developing groundbreaking games and technical expertise places it in an ideal position to take advantage of the Chinese market.

China is the world’s largest games market, boasting 25 percent of global market share in 2018. Chinese gamers are also willing to spend, with 94 percent of gamers purchasing in-game items, compared to 79 percent of US gamers – the world’s second largest market. It is this scale, recent and forecast growth, and propensity to spend, that makes the Chinese market such an exceptionally attractive proposition to games developers.

Regulatory speed bump slows China games approval

All games need to receive a license in China. Under Chinese law, video games are classified as internet cultural activity, thereby facing a range of restrictions on the types of content that is permissible, and requiring a lengthy approvals regime to ensure any new release complies with governmental constraints.

In early, 2018 the Chinese government implemented a broad departmental shakeup. As a part of this, a new department was created, the State Administration of Press and Publications (SAPP), to oversee the games approval process which meant that the games approval process was brought under the direct control of the Government’s Central Committee. This reorganisation resulted in a sharp halt to the approvals process, with no new game approved in China for nine months, while key positions were filled and new processes developed and approved.

The thaw on computer game approvals arrived in late 2018, with 447 domestically produced games approved in the two months leading up to Chinese New Year. However, with an estimated 7,000 games awaiting approval, the backlog is only growing. In February, regulators asked local authorities to stop submitting new applications as the backlog is already too large to deal with. Although this has forced another temporary halt to the application process, the authorities say they do plan to process 3,000 games in 2019. However, content restrictions and longstanding concerns about computer game addiction in Chinese youth presents an ongoing challenge for foreign titles looking to enter the market. On a practical level, this includes the formation of the Online Game Ethics Committee, a body to review games that potentially infringe on government sensitivities – including “anything that promotes or incites obscenity, drug use, violence, or gambling.”

UK games pedigree welcomed by Chinese gamers

The UK is home to over 2,200 active games companies with proven talent across a broad field of the games industry including Codemasters

The UK is home to over 2,200 active games companies with proven talent across a broad field of the games industry. Notable UK titles such as Grand Theft Auto V, the most profitable entertainment product of all time, as well as titles from Codemasters, Jagex, Team 17, Milky Tea and Miniclip all illustrate the potential for UK games companies in the Chinese market.

Although there has been a halt to the application process, the authorities say they do plan to process 3,000 games in 2019

An excellent template for collaboration was the series of agreements between UK racing games developer Codemasters and NetEase, a leading Chinese tech company. Under the terms of the deal – worth a minimum of £8 million over three years – Codemasters and Netease will jointly develop a new game, building on the respective parties’ expertise. This agreement comes on the back of a November 2018 agreement, with Netease purchasing the exclusive China rights to three games, and agreeing to provide the marketing, localisation and regulatory know-how necessary to successfully place a new game into the Chinese market. As part of the agreement NetEase will be responsible for ensuring regulatory approval for these three games.

As noted by Codemasters CEO Frank Sagnier, NetEase’s “unparalleled knowledge and track record in publishing AAA games will ensure that we are best positioned for growth in this key gaming market.” In return, and as noted by Brent Wang, business development manager at NetEase, NetEase will be able to take advantage of Codemasters’ “considerable strength” in the relatively underdeveloped racing game market in China. 

Opportunities for UK games community

For UK companies looking to enter, explore and understand the Chinese market both the London Games Festival and ChinaJoy (China Digital Entertainment Expo & Conference) present exciting opportunities. The London Games Festival will be held from April 2-14, 2019 and will see Chinese delegations in attendance, as well as opportunities to gain a deeper understanding of the intricacies of cracking the Chinese market. For those interested in experiencing the market first hand ChinaJoy, held in Shanghai in August every year, is Asia’s largest gaming and digital entertainment conference. Eligible UK games companies can take advantage of UK government grants to attend ChinaJoy as part of a Ukie and CBBC supported delegation, operating in its fifth year.

For more information about the Chinese games market, contact Creative Sector lead Christopher Lethbridge in the UK at chris.lethbridge@cbbc.org 

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Britain’s high street stores and retail sector might be struggling but that doesn’t mean the same is true for the leisure industry. In fact, the leisure economy is one of the UK’s fastest-growing sectors. It’s growing at twice the speed of the retail sector and accounts for 7.4 percent of the UK’s GDP.

The leisure economy covers everything from a night out down the pub, to a weekend away, to a trip to the cinema. It’s what we do in our spare time. And we are seeing a growth in leisure spending, at a time when the traditional retail sector suffers.

This is mainly due to changing habits and improved technology that has seen people spend less on things and more on experiences and more efficiently too.  Gone are the days when people saved to buy a car, nowadays people use a ride sharing app, which frees up more money for discretionary spending. And experiences rather than products are where those extra pounds will go.

This is especially true among the younger demographic of Millennials and Generation Z spenders, who value their ‘personal brand’ above a company brand, and therefore would rather splash their cash on a music festival (the experience of which they can share on social media) than a pair of trainers (which only promotes an external brand rather than their own).

But this doesn’t mean that things are all rosy and light. Britain’s domestic leisure economy took a bit of a hit in the first quarter of 2018, with spending decreasing on the last quarter of 2017. According to a report by Deloitte, stagnant wages and rising inflation meant that a higher percentage of wages were being spent on essentials and often leisure expenditure is the first sector to feel the pinch. However, it is also thought that the “Beast from the East” – the cold spring weather that the UK experienced – could have also played a large part in this slow down. Whilst sunshine will see bar takings go up, poor weather will see them plummet. And who wants to brave the ice for a theatre trip or weekend at the coast in the snow? But while Brits may have spent less on going out in Q1 they spent more on weekend breaks abroad – winter sun anyone?

Coming to the UK

Visits from China to the UK have more than doubled in the last decade.

The Beast from the East didn’t slow inbound tourism from the Far East either. Tourism from China has been growing steadily in recent years in line with the growing Chinese middle class who have more disposable income and a desire for international travel. Visits from China to the UK have more than doubled in the last decade.

Visits from China to the UK have more than doubled in the last decade

“Between January and September 2017 there were a record number of visits from China to the UK – this is up 33 percent on the first nine months of 2016,” explains Travis Qian of Visit Britain. “Inbound spending between the same period was up 48 percent on the previous year – a record high,” he says. Visitors from China are some of the UK’s highest spenders; in 2015, they splurged an average of £2,688 per person during the course of their stay. The 349,000 Chinese visitors to the UK expected to arrive this year will spend a total of £772 million, a number that is expected to reach £1 billion by 2020.

Chinese tourists are demanding more from their trips abroad and are no longer satisfied with just a glorified shopping trip, and Britain is well placed to make sure that visitors return home with a full range of stories to tell from their experiences rather than just shopping bags.

Tickets to sporting events – especially Premier League Football or Wimbledon for example – are in high demand and active experiences such as whiskey tasting, driving or shooting trips also top the list for many high-end visitors.

“There is certainly interest among high-end Chinese visitors for these types of activity and the market as a whole is moving towards a more experiential form of travel where the focus is on having local, in-depth experiences rather than whistle-stop tours around the UK,” says Eve Baker of travel company Beiwei 55.

Britain’s has a unique mix of heritage and contemporary cool that makes Britain stand out from many of our European cousins.  “We are both historically rich as a nation, taking pride in our heritage and historical landmarks, but we are also forward-thinking and creative,” says Baker. “To visit the UK is a prestigious thing, and for many Chinese people, it is not a case of if but a case of when” she says.

The Sherlock effect

The BBC’s Sherlock has been watched by more than 90 million people in China

And much of that image has been portrayed by our British TV exports to China. The BBC’s Sherlock has been watched by more than 90 million people in China and other shows such as Downton Abbey, Doctor Who and Merlin have made many British cities and landmarks destination targets.

British TV show sales to China soared by 90 percent in 2012 in no small part thanks to these hit shows, and they have continued to rise, making up £23 million in 2015-2016 sales.

“As the world finds more ways to watch great British shows, our content is riding a wave of popularity,” says Paul Dempsey, President Global Markets, BBC Worldwide. “The growing appeal of authored British drama in the U.S. and the hunger for titles that speak to a young, upmarket audience in China has put the UK in the premier league of international TV distribution,” he says.

Following the success of British export Peppa Pig, undersea, pre-school adventure show Octonauts, produced by London-based Silvergate Media, said in January last year that they had already received 4.1 billion downloads from China since launching. Their partnership with CCTV and Warner China has also seen their toy sales rise by 350 percent on the previous year.

“China is one of our most important markets, which is why we are delighted that Octonauts has gained millions of fans in the region,” said Waheed Alli, CEO at Silvergate Media. “We are excited to see the traction we have gained building a strong merchandising programme, deeper retail reach and a larger online retail presence. We are confident that these additional consumer touchpoints will increase exposure for the brand as it continues to grow in popularity.”

The game is on

Britain’s long history of creativity and innovation are not just helping export TV and film. The UK is also home to over 2,100 games development studios including a multitude of globally recognised leading studios, working mainly on mobile games and PC digital.

Britain is well placed to make sure that visitors return home with a full range of stories to tell from their experiences

“The UK is often regarded as the historical home of games development. Our unique blend of creativity and technical skills sets us apart from other markets,” explains Sam Collins, head of Commercial at Ukie, the trade body for games in the UK. It is this creative expertise that has led to over $2 billion of Chinese investment in the UK gaming sector in 2016-17 alone.

“The Chinese games market is crowded with highly successful games in a small number of genres and they are crying out for innovative and creative new content to offer to consumers,” says Collins. “The UK is a world-leading centre for game development and combining our exceptional creativity with the Chinese monetisation models is delivering great results.” Collins says that it is our historical pedigree, our education system and our unique talent pool that is driving the sector.

‘Brand Britain’ is very much about our unique heritage and our ‘contemporary cool’. It is Britain’s innovation and creativity that is in demand from Chinese audiences and these soft skills work hand in hand with China’s experience as a hard skill centre.

So whilst our high-street shops might be having a hard time, our museums, TV shows, and gamers are still waving the British flag with pride.

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