2015 h1 china mobile game industry report —— talkingdata

2011-2015 © TalkingData.com

2015 H1 China Mobile Game Industry ReportTalkingData Data Centre, July 2015


CONTENTS

Analysis of mobile game user behavior

Overview of the development of mobile game industry

Interpreting the mobile game sub-industries

Insights on the trends in mobile game industry


Overview of the development of mobile

game industry


The demographic dividend in the mobile game industry is diminishing. By the end of June this year, the total number of devices that have accessed to mobile games stood at 1.28 billion, of which 910 million devices are active in mobile games.

Data from: TalkingData Data CentreNote: The total number of devices refer to the total number of devices that have installed mobile games, while active devices refer to those have installed mobile games and are currently active



The mobile game industry is witnessing a stable growth in revenue, which exceeded 23 billion RMB in the first two quarters of 2015.

Data Source: TalkingData Data Centre

2014Q1 2014Q2 2014Q3 2014Q4 2015Q1 2015Q2

3.8 5.3 6.9 8.9 10.7 12.6

44.0% 39.9% 31.4% 28.0% 20.5% 17.1%

2014Q1-2015Q3 Mobile Game Industry Revenue & Growth Rate

Industry Revenue （ Billion RMB ）



By the end of June, 2015, there are 27,700 content providers in the mobile game industry, indicating a slowdown in growth.

2014Q1 2014Q2 2014Q3 2014Q4 2015Q1 2015Q2

1.30 1.58 1.83 2.13 2.44 2.77

24.7% 21.2%15.9% 16.4% 14.2% 13.7%

Number of content providers & its growth rate between 2014Q1-2015Q2

Total CPs Amount （ 10k ） Growth Rate （ % ）




GR 221.5

% 119.9% 135.8% 272.3% 88.8% 87.0% 104.9% 169.7

%

Card Combat games, casual games and role play games are the most common types of games on mobile devices, while action game is the one with the most rapid growth in numbers.

Casual Puzzle RPG Action Strategy Sim Board&Card Card Combat

1020

236794

292582

123 224

1252

3279

519

1872

1087 1099

230 459

3377

Jun. 2014 – Jun. 2015 Number of various game genre and growth rate

June 2014 June 2015




GR 95.9% 152.9% 436.3

%236.2

% 9.0% 97.0% 47.9% 233.5%

Casual games still have the largest monthly number of active users, but the number of active player in heavy games, like role play games, action games and card combat games, are on the rise.

Casual Puzzle RPG Action Strategy Sim Board&Card Card Combat

Jun. 2014 – Jun. 2015 Active users’ growth rate of various Game genre

June 2014 June 2015




A large part of the top 20 most popular mobile games are casual ones, among which 9 are Tencent products. Happy Elements takes the first place by attracting the most players.

Data from: TalkingData Data Centre, Android platform data

Tencent Games Non-Tencent Games

Happy Elements

PopStar!

Fight the Landlord

Parkour Everyday

Craz3 Match

Mine Craft

Subway Surfers

Temple Run 2

Rhythm M

aster

PopStar Classic

Fruit Ninja

ThunderRaid

WeFire

WeChatSpeed

Happy Mahjong

Talking Tom 2

JJ Fight the Landlord

Plant vs Zombies(HD)

Defend the radish 2

Thunder Fighter

14.1%12.8%

10.4%8.7%

3.9% 3.3% 3.2% 3.0% 2.8% 2.6% 2.2% 2.1% 2.1% 2.1% 2.0% 1.9% 1.8% 1.7% 1.7% 1.6%

Top 20 Mobile Games with most players in June, 2015



Role play games have started to become the main battlefield of mobile games, as its high interactivity, operationality and varied playing methods concerning the growth of characters have attracted more mobile game players.

Data from: TalkingData Data Centre, collected from revealed information

New role play mobile games in H1, 2015

Fantasy Westward Journey

The Journey of Flower

Bad Man

Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils 3D

Tiantian Legend Xifei Zhuan

Stone Age 2 World II Tulong Jue

(These are only examples that does not include all the new role play games and are listed in no particular order)

RPG33%

Strategy20%

Card Combat18%

Casual16%

Action8%

Board&Card3%

Sim1%

Others1%

Proportion of new mobile game types in H1, 2015



With large fan base and easy promotion, comic and animation themed games have attracted attentions from game developers, publishers and agents. Meanwhile, there is a growing sense of intellectual property in the domestic mobile game industry.


New mobile games in H1, 2015(These are only examples that does not include all the new role play

games and are listed in no particular order)

One Piece White Cat Project Naruto

Tom and Jerry Age of Magic Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf Rush

Angry Birds Carnival Gintama Attack on Titan OL

Anima-tion29%

Magic19%

Samguk12%

Myth-ical8%

Jour-ney to

the west 7%

Mar-tial-Arts 6%

War-fare 5%

History 3%

Sport 1%

Others10%

Analysis on the subjects of new mobile games in h1, 2015



Along with the industry trend,2D games are still the mainstream of the market, only 30% of newly launched Game use 3D effects.

2D71%

3D29%

Analysis on the image of new mobile games in h1, 2015

The mainstream mobile game development tool

Support 2D

Support2D/3D


(These are only examples that does not include all the development tools and are listed in no particular order)



The sex structure in mobile game players is getting balanced, with the proportion of female players rising to 35.5 percent from 28.7 percent in the same period last year.

28.7% 71.3%

35.5%64.5%

2014Q2

2015Q2




Jun. 2014 Sep. 2014 Dec. 2014 Mar. 2015 Jun. 2015

17.5 17.2 18.1 15.8 15.0

19.4 18.8 24.1

21.3 22.5

Jun. 2014 – Jun. 2015 Average play times per month per capita

Android iOS

Analysis of mobile game user behaviorPlayers with iOS devices play an average of 22.5 times of games a month, higher

than the 15 times of players with Android devices, and the gap in play times is getting bigger.



Jun. 2014 Sep. 2014 Dec. 2014 Mar. 2015 Jun. 2015

3.6 3.3 3.5 3.3 2.8

6.2 6.1

7.8 7.1 7.5

Jun. 2014 – Jun. 2015 Average game time per month per capita

Android （ Hours ） iOS （ Hours ）

Players with iOS devices spent 1.7 more times of time than those with Android devices, a significant gap in the time spent on playing.




Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

12.0%10.9%

11.2%12.1%

14.4%

20.3%19.2%

12.8% 13.0% 12.7% 13.1%13.9%

18.4%

16.2%

Jun. 2015 Installation volume distribution of the Week

Android （ % ） iOS(% ）

Mobile game users tend to download and install games on weekends, and this trend is more obvious with Android users, as the weekly installation peak often appear on Saturday.




1:00

3:00

5:00

7:00

9:00

11:00

13:00

15:00

17:00

19:00

21:00

23:00

Jun. 2015 Android installation volume distribution of the Day

Weekday Weekend

1:00

3:00

5:00

7:00

9:00

11:00

13:00

15:00

17:00

19:00

21:00

23:00

Jun. 2015 iOS installation volume distribution of the Day

Weekday Weekend


On weekdays, users tend to install mobile games at noon or in the evening, while iOS users prefer to do it in the evening.



The quality of Android mobile games is improving to higher levels, and the discrepancies in pay rate between different types of games are diminishing; meanwhile, under delicacy management, the conversion rate has stabilized with no drastic fluctuation in pay rate.

2014.07 2014.08 2014.09 2014.10 2014.11 2014.12 2015.01 2015.02 2015.03 2015.04 2015.05 2015.061.50%

2.00%

2.50%

3.00%

3.50%

4.00%

4.50%

5.00%

Jul. 2014 – Jun. 2015 Android game users pay rate

RPG

Board&Card

Card Combat

Action

Strategy

Casual




Players with iOS devices are showing a strong growth in spending power, with pay rate in all game types on rise, which is especially outstanding with role play games, strategy games and action games.

2004.07 2014.08 2014.09 2014.10 2014.11 2014.12 2015.01 2015.02 2015.03 2015.04 2015.05 2015.061.50%

2.00%

2.50%

3.00%

3.50%

4.00%

4.50%

5.00%

Jul. 2014 – Jun. 2015 iOS game users pay rate

RPG

Board&Card

Action

Card Combat

Casual

Strategy




Android players are getting more active in strategy games, card combat games and role play games, and the trend is especially strong around the Spring Festival.

2014.07 2014.08 2014.09 2014.10 2014.11 2014.12 2015.01 2015.02 2015.03 2015.04 2015.05 2015.064.00%

6.00%

8.00%

10.00%

12.00%

14.00%

Jul. 2014 – Jun. 2015 Android game weekly active rate

Board&Card

Action

Strategy

CasualRPG

Card Combat




Players of casual games, card combat games and action games on iOS devices are particularly active around February, while strategy game players are getting more active since the end of last year at a steady pace.

2014.07 2014.08 2014.09 2014.10 2014.11 2014.12 2015.01 2015.02 2015.03 2015.04 2015.05 2015.064.00%

6.00%

8.00%

10.00%

12.00%

14.00%

Jul. 2014 – Jun. 2015 iOS game weekly active rate

Action

Casual

Strategy

Board&CardCard Combat

RPG




The gaps between retention rates of different types of Android mobile games are widening, and there are still challenges in terms of improving user experiences. Competition among role play games and card combat games is growing fierce.

2014.07 2014.08 2014.09 2014.1 2014.11 2014.12 2015.01 2015.02 2015.03 2015.04 2015.05 2015.062.00%

4.00%

6.00%

8.00%

10.00%

12.00%

14.00%

16.00%Jul. 2014 – Jun. 2015 Android game 7-day retention rate

Board&Card

Card Combat

RPG

Strategy

Casual

Action




The 7-day retention rate in iOS chess and card combat games is declining, narrowing its gap with the retention rate of other types of games; meanwhile, the 7-day retention rate of role play games is going up.

2014.07 2014.08 2014.09 2014.1 2014.11 2014.12 2015.01 2015.02 2015.03 2015.04 2015.05 2015.062.00%

4.00%

6.00%

8.00%

10.00%

12.00%

14.00%

16.00%

18.00%

Jul. 2014 – Jun. 2015 iOS game 7-day retention rate

RPG

Casual

Board&Card

Card Combat

Action

Strategy




2014.07 2014.08 2014.09 2014.1 2014.11 2014.12 2015.01 2015.02 2015.03 2015.04 2015.05 2015.062.00

2.50

3.00

3.50

4.00

4.50

5.00

5.50

6.00

Jul. 2014 – Jun. 2015 Android game daily played times

RPG Board&Card Card Combat Action Strategy Casual

Interpreting the mobile game sub-industriesThe average number of times that strategy games are played on Android devices

on a daily basis is showing an upward trend, while that with card combat games and role play games is declining.



The average number of times that all iOS games are played on a daily basis is witnessing a slight increase, among them, that with role play games is increasing significantly.

2014.07 2014.08 2014.09 2014.1 2014.11 2014.12 2015.01 2015.02 2015.03 2015.04 2015.05 2015.060.00

1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

5.00

6.00

7.00

Jul. 2014 – Jun. 2015 iOS game daily played times

RPG Board&Card Card Combat Action Strategy Casual




In June, 2015, the average time spent on Android role play games has increased compared with that in July 2014, while the average time spent on other types of games are declining at different rates.

2014.07 2014.08 2014.09 2014.1 2014.11 2014.12 2015.01 2015.02 2015.03 2015.04 2015.05 2015.06200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900 Jul. 2014 – Jun. 2015 Daily average game time (second) on

Android devices

Board&Card

RPG

Strategy

Carad Combat

Actiion

Casual




The average time spent on iOS card combat games, strategy games and casual games is witnessing a significant growth.

2014.07 2014.08 2014.09 2014.1 2014.11 2014.12 2015.01 2015.02 2015.03 2015.04 2015.05 2015.06400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600 Jul. 2014 – Jun. 2015 Daily average game time (Second) on iOS

devices

Board&Card

RPG

Strategy

Card Combat

Actioin

Casual




1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

• In the top 10 most popular

casual games, four of them

are from Tencent, with

Happy Elements taking the

first place by attracting 14.1

percent of the players.

Top 10 casual games in player coverage

Data from: TalkingData Data Centre, Android app ranking in June, 2015


Fruit Ninja

PopStar Classic!

Rhythm Master

Temple Run 2

Subway Surfers

Craz3 Match

Parkour Everyday

Fight thee Landlord

Popstar!

Happy Elements

2.15%

2.63%

2.84%

3.04%

3.16%

3.94%

8.65%

10.39%

12.79%

14.10%

Top 10 casual games in player coverage in Jun. 2015


1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

• Parkour Everyday takes the first place by attracting 8.65 percent of the players, while Subway Surfer World Tour: New Orleans ranks the second with 3.16 percent. In the third place is Temple Run 2, winning 3.04 percent of players. Other parkour games including Despicable Me ：Minion Rush, Where Are We Going, Dad(Season2) and Running Man, which are based on entertainment TV shows or movies, have also gained much popularity.

Top 10 parkour games in player coverageInterpreting the mobile game sub-industries


Temple Run

Running Man

Give it up!

Where Are We Going, Dad

Run Pleasant Goat

Despicable Me

Snow Board Adventures

Temple Run 2

Subway Surfer

Parkour Everyday

0.38%

0.40%

0.40%

0.42%

0.48%

0.93%

1.46%

3.04%

3.16%

8.65%

Top 10 parkour games in player coverage in June, 2015


1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

• In the 10 most popular

fighting and shooting

action games, National

Warplanes takes the first

place by attracting 2.1

percent of players,

followed by We Fire with

2.09 percent. Thunder

Fighter secures the third

place by winning 1.63

percent of players.

Top 10 action games (STG&FTG) in player coverageInterpreting the mobile game sub-industries


Fighters' 97

Shadow Fight 2

Shadow Realm

3 Fruity Kingdom

Guns Girl 2

We Fight

National Battle

Thunder Fighter

We Fire

National Warplanes

0.22%

0.32%

0.44%

0.57%

0.59%

0.82%

1.38%

1.63%

2.09%

2.10%

Top 10 action games in player coverage in June,2015


1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

• The 10 most popular role

play games are mostly

ARPGs, with Fantasy

Westward Journey, Space

Hunter and Scuffle

Journey taking the lead in

the market.

Top 10 role play games in player coverageInterpreting the mobile game sub-industries


Stone Age 2

The journey of Flower

Demi-Gods 3D

Taichi Panda

MU Miracle

Undead Killer

3 Fruity Kingdom

Scuffle Journey

Space Hunter

Fantasy Westward Journey

0.13%

0.15%

0.21%

0.22%

0.23%

0.27%

0.57%

0.77%

0.85%

0.97%

Top 10 RPG in player coverage in June 2015


1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

• The 10 most popular

strategy games are

mostly tower defense

games, with Plant VS

Zombies and Carrot

Fantasy series still

attracting most players.

Besides, Clash of Clans

and Boom Beach are also

quite popular among

players.

Top 10 strategy games in player coverageInterpreting the mobile game sub-industries


Burning Vegetables 3

Plant VS Zombies

Survivalcraft

Plant VS Zombies 2

Fight for Freedom

Carrot Fantansy

Boom Beach

Clash of Clans

Carrot Fantansy 2

Plant VS Zombies 2 (HD)

0.23%

0.24%

0.24%

0.39%

0.47%

0.64%

1.10%

1.27%

1.68%

1.72%

Top 10 Strategy games in player coverage in June 2015


1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

• In the 10 most popular chess and card games, 7 of them are of the Fight the Landlord series. Among them, Fight the Landlord from Tencent has won 10.39 percent of the players, while another Tencent product Mahjong takes the second place with 1.95 percent.

Top 10 board and card games in player coverageInterpreting the mobile game sub-industries


Fight the Landloard(Wawa Game)

Fight the Landloard(Ourgame)

Fight the Landlord(June Game)

Happy Bull

Boya Fight the Landlord

Chinese Chess

Fight the Landlord(Tuyou)

JJ Fight the Landlord

Happy Mahjong

Fight the Landlord

0.73%

0.77%

0.96%

1.09%

1.20%

1.45%

1.62%

1.82%

1.95%

10.39%

Top 10 Board and card games in player coverage in June 2015


1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

• The classic Dota Legend is still on the top of the chart, while other new games like One Hundred Thousand Bad Jokes, Warship Girls and Chaobao Sanguo have also gained popularity among players.

Top 10 card combat games in player coverageInterpreting the mobile game sub-industries


Killers of Samguk lite

Chaobao Sanguo

Warship Girls

100k Bad Jokes

Junior Samguk

I am MT2

Go Picacho

Hero Killing

Killers of Samguk

Dota Legend

0.13%

0.18%

0.20%

0.22%

0.26%

0.33%

0.37%

0.51%

0.53%

0.64%

Top 10 card combat games in player coverage in June 2015


14.9%

85.1%

Proportion of HTML5 game devices by Q2, 2015

H5 Game Devices Non-H5 Game Devices

2014Q3 2014Q4 2015Q1 2015Q2

1.01 1.10 1.21 1.35

Number of H5 Game Devices and its growth between 2014/Q3-

2015/Q2

8.9% 10.0% 11.7%

Growth in the number of players on HTML5 games has accelerated. By the end of June, 2015, the total number of HTML5 game devices reached 135 million units, accounting for 14.9 percent of the total mobile game devices.


Data from: TalkingData Data Centre

Unit ： 100m


2014Q3 2014Q4 2015Q1 2015Q2

0.20 0.25 0.310.44

Number of HTML5 developers and its growth rate between 2014Q3-2015Q2

Unit ： 10k

25.8%21.7%

42.9%

The number of HTML5 game developers has seen a surge in growth, increasing to more than 4,400. More and more participants are flooding into the HTML5 game market.




2014Q3 2014Q4 2015Q1 2015Q2538 732 1091

16871256 16032246.2

3279

Number of HTML5 games and its growth rate between 2014Q3-2015Q2

H5 Games Non-H5 Games

36.1%49.0%

27.6%

40.1%54.6%

46.0%

The launch of new HTML5 games has also been accelerated. By the end of June, 2015, the total number of HTML5 games has reached 1,687.




Most of the HTML5 games are light ones, however, there is a certain number of heavy games like role play games and action games.

2015 Q2 HTML5 game genre distribution

56.1%13.2% 9.7% 9.9%4.8% 2.9% 3.4%

CasualAction Puzzle RPGCard Others

Sim




Compared to non-H5 games, the pay rate of HTML5 games is relatively low, and their profitability is still weak.

RPG

Board&...

Card Co..

.Acti

on

Strateg

yCasu

al

Puzzl

eSim

HTML5

4.3% 3.5% 3.3% 3.1% 2.9% 2.7%1.9% 1.6% 1.4%

Jun. 2015 mobile game pay rate comparison




The overall time spent on HTML5 games is a bit longer than Non-H5 casual and intellectual games, but is still shorter than most other native games.

Board&Card

RPG Strategy Sim Card Combat

Action HTML5 Puzzle Casual

664 592 555 552 543 465 318 317 309

Jun. 2015 mobile game average game time (second)




Proprietors

Players

Developer tool

Data statistic & analysis

Developers

Publishers

Media

App Store

Operator

AD platform

Payment

The industrial chain of mobile games


Mobile DMP

The industrial chain of mobile games is growing mature, and many links in the industry, like information providing, downloading and payment, are witnessing improvements. Therefore, a complete eco-system of mobile games has been established.

(These are only examples that does not include all the companies and are listed in no particular order)


CP

75%

Industry

137%

Gamer

44%

2015 Q2Year-on-year growth rate

Insights on the trends in mobile game industry The growth in the number of mobile game players has come to a slowdown, and the growth in

revenue is stabilizing. Against the backdrop of diminishing demographic dividend, high quality games would be a main trend, and mobile game companies will focus on how to improve game qualities, attract and keep high-quality players, and encourage players to pay.



The mid/heavy games, which have a longer life cycle and whose players are more willing to pay, are likely to boom in future. Meanwhile, light games will tend to focus on vertical markets with particular groups of users, and the value of core users is emerging.

RPG

Card Combat

Strategy

Casual

Actioin

Board&Card

Sim

Android Mobile Game Pay Rate & Game Genre diagram

Pay Rate（ Jun. 2015）Genre Distribution of New game

Pay Rate Trend

Game Genre Distribution Trend




Role play games, card combat games and strategy games are outstanding in user stickiness, as players of those games tend to open games more often and stay relatively longer in the games, and those games are likely to attract more high-quality players.

Board&Card Sim Strategy Card Combat

RPG Puzzle Casual Action

664552 555 543

592

317 309

465

Daily Game TimeDaily Played Times




The distribution methods of mobile games are diversifying, as more users are participating from online video media, mobile games vertical media and social network services.

App Store

SocialNetwork

VideoMedia

VerticalMedia


(These are only examples that does not include all the companies and are listed in no particular order)


6/9 6/10 6/11 6/12 6/13 6/14 6/15 6/16 6/17 6/18 6/19 6/20 6/21 6/22 6/23 6/24 6/25 6/26 6/27 6/28 6/29 6/30

Pre-down-load opened on Android platform

Log in through Android Platform Like 360, Tencent,

Baidu

Installation volume of the Journey of Flower on Android devices on June 9-30, 2015

Test Stage（ limited

access）

Animation, film and TV program IP games are gaining strong momentum. Popular adapted IP games no longer involve only developers, but also proprietors and media, who are actively taking part in the releasing of the games, so as to maximize the value of popular IPs.

航海王

花千骨

十万个冷笑话

屌丝男士盗墓笔记仙剑

火影武媚娘传奇

喜羊羊爸

去哪儿爸

弟

奔跑

兄少年

栈花忍者客

EntertainmentIP

TV Series IP

Web Show

IP

Animation

IP

TV Premiere

iOS version launched

……


The distribution matrix of the Journey of Flower

Popular IPs adapted from animation, films and TV programs (examples)



With continued developments in development tools, browsers and service platforms, the industrial chain of HTML5 games will keep extending, and its cross-platform and cross-screen technology will bring developers more opportunities to turn visitor volume into revenue.

Entry

BrowserService Platform

Mobile AppsDevelopment Tools

Others

Volume

Core

User

FA

NP R

OS

GE

NE Transfor-

mation


FreeCooper-

ationSelf-

supporting┅

Small Games

Ranking Charts/Rewards

Interaction

Social Media click/share

Networking

PE

CTS

RA

L


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2015 h1 china mobile game industry report —— talkingdata

Data & Analytics