The video game market in China weighed 269.5 billion yuan (36.6 billion euros) in 2022, but this figure represents an annual decline of 10%, which is obviously not nothing. According to these data which come straight from the very official China Audio-Video Copyright Association, the number of active gamblers in the territory also decreased, albeit very slightly (-0.33%) to stabilize at around 664 million. Despite the efforts of console manufacturers, the mobile still represented 70% of the Chinese market in 2022, but the latter recorded a notable drop of 14% and reached a turnover of 193.1 billion yuan (26.2 billion euros). euros). It is also not in great shape on the side of esport, a discipline which also shows a drop of 14% for a turnover of 144.5 billion yuan (19.6 billion euros).
Tencent and NetEase will seek growth elsewhere
Instead of mentioning the fact that the Chinese government prevents the vast majority of Western big titles from leaving the territory (after 18 months of freezing, only 44 foreign games were approved in 2022 against 468 national games) or even its laws which limit the playing time of minors more and more severely, the balance sheet explains this decline by factors such as COVID-19, recruitment difficulties or competition from abroad. Abroad, it is precisely there that giants like Tencent Games and NetEase Games, who have sensed the leveling off of their local economy, are increasingly concentrating their efforts each year. Acquisitions and other studio openings everywhere except in China are therefore only accelerating on the part of these two giants: let us quote for example Nagoshi Studio, Quantic Dream, Grasshopper Manufacture, Funcom, Sumo Digital, Turtle Rock Studios or Digital Extreme .
The report does not report on the progress of consoles on the Chinese market, but we know that the Switch (distributed locally by Tencent) dominates the market and that Sony Interactive Entertainment is also satisfied with the progress of the PS5, which is selling. faster than the PS4 in its day. After 72 weeks, 670,000 PS5s had passed in China against 250,000 PS4s while the latter suffered no breakage. Regarding the Switch, there were already more than 4 million consoles on site in January 2021. The specialized firm Niko Partners projects that the console market in China will reach 14.5 billion yuan (2 billion euros) in 2024, this which would be twice as much as in 2019.
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