2016 ChinaJoy will open on Thursday in Shanghai and last for four days. Known as Asia’s largest gaming and digital entertainment exhibition, ChinaJoy this year has declared stricter dress code for showgirls, pushing game developers to engage participants with something else, something better.
Key areas for this year’s event are expected to be: VR/AR game, the global games market, and classic IP.
As Pokémon GO goes viral, leading game developers will talk much about VR/AR games. Game developers such as NetEase have already started working on them.
This May, NetEase became one of the first 10 major game developers supporting Google’s VR platform Daydream; in June, the game maker announced the establishment of its own VR platform, Dream Lab.
Furthermore, China’s games market will further integrate with the global games market. For example, Tencent acquired 84% shares of the mobile game developer Supercell with USD 8.6 billion this June.
According to Sina Games, the combined revenue from mobile games made by Tencent and NetEase accounts for nearly 50% of China’s whole mobile game market. It’s therefore a wiser move for small and medium game developers to cast their sights into the wider global market.
China’s games market in the first half of 2016 produced a revenue of RMB 78.75 billion (USD 11.81 billion), according to official figures. Among China’s 489 million gamers, 405 million play mobile games, a YoY growth of 10.7%.
Classic IP is something the gaming industry will never let go of. The success of today’s Pokémon GO is built upon the classic IP that Nintendo first brought to the public 20 years ago.
Though the temperature in Shanghai is expected to reach 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Faranheidt) during the 2016 ChinaJoy, the annual event – made up of 150 big and small sub events – will still attract flocks of gamers and game developers.
(Top photo from Google Images)