There are 1.21 billion mobile gamers in Asia, making up more than half of the world’s mobile gaming population. With that staggering number of people, preferences can naturally wildly differ from region to region, influenced by culture, customs and traditions. Google, in partnership with Niko Partners, peels back some layers to the Asia mobile games scene.

CHINA

2019 saw the nation generate $18.5 billion in revenue from 637 million gamers, making up 46.8% of Asia’s total mobile games revenue. Yet it was not always that way, with PC being the dominant platform until 2018. China eventually became the first country to launch mobile adaptations of PC games and quickly showed how ports could be equally, if not more, successful on mobile.

Titles like Fantasy Westward Journey, Perfect World and Peacekeeper Elite kept their PC audience, and acquired a whole new group of mobile gamers who could join in the hype at a lower acquisition cost. Popular streamers and influencers like Liu “PPD” Mou, TuanZi, Xu “Fy God” Linsen and Lu Han also helped in promoting new titles aside from perennial favourites like League of Legends and Dota 2.

Development teams in China have consistently tapped into the market using local art styles, heroes and storylines, with 4 out of the top 10 mobile games – as of May 2020 – in the country being based off the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. For any developer outside of China, the right domestic publisher is key due to China’s publishing requirements and strict approval guidelines for issuing licenses. Tencent and Netease are instantly recognizable names. While the number of foreign international standard book number (ISBN) licenses have dropped, Japan still managed to secure 1/3 of imported games into China in 2019.

As such, it’s not especially surprising to see how Anime, Comic, and Games (ACG) titles are popular focal points for Chinese developers, especially appealing to those born in the 1990s who grew up with Japanese TV anime. Japanese developers have partnered with local publishers to launch new games with these art styles, while Chinese developers reach out to localize popular Japanese titles for the home audience. Netease’s own Onmyoji franchise is based on Japanese mythology, with the ACG artstyle and Japanese voice actors. Onmyoji ranks 7th of the top mobile games in China.

MMORPGs remain popular but developers are branching out to action-packed titles and immersive genres to continue to appeal to evolving tastes.

JAPAN

The second largest mobile game market in revenue still pulls a cool $11.6 billion in 2019, third globally behind China and the US. As Nintendo and Sony’s home base, along with the export of anime and manga, Japan has a massive influence on culture as a whole. Local developers stay true to the ACG elements and dominate lists of popular games. Besides Pokemon Go (US), Lineage II Revolution (South Korea) and Knives Out (China), no games developed outside of Japan have broken into the top 10 list since 2016. Indeed, mainstay titles like Fate/Grand Order, Monster Strike and Granblue Fantasy all utilize ACG art styles.

Since 2019, approximately half of Japan’s total mobile game revenue was generated by RPG, due to easy monetization via gacha mechanics or items. Knives Out is an exception to the ACG “rule”, employing more realistic art styles, but Netease has made many concerted efforts to attract the local audience via collaborations with popular anime and manga like Evangelion, Attack on Titan, Gintama and Tokyo Ghoul.

Square Enix, Konami, Bandai Namco and SEGA are all known for hit PC and console titles, and are continuing to build on the successes with mobile adaptations. Eight of the top 10 mobile games in Japan are based on licensed PC and console titles, as of June 2020. Esports titles also have some momentum, but prize pool regulations in Japan have made it difficult to host and run events. Still, mobile esports is rising in popularity in Asia, so sponsors, developers and publishers would soon want to tap into opportunities.

SOUTH KOREA

Asia’s no. 3 in revenue and no. 4 globally at $5.34 billion in 2019, South Korea’s rich PC gaming history, robust mobile infrastructure, and widespread internet cafes (icafes, locally known as “PC bang”) have made a lasting impact on the evolution of its mobile games market.

South Korea also was one of the first countries to offer 5G mobile service in May 2019 which resulted in a drastically improved mobile gaming experience, besides government-sanctioned plans to grow the local game industry. Lineage and Lineage II remain South Korea’s top titles especially after mobile adaptations.

Social PC bang culture and widespread high speed mobile internet enables the popularity of challenging, immersive mobile titles for gamers to play with or against others. RPGs are still South Korea’s favourite games, accounting for 57.9% of mobile game revenue in H1 2020. PC gaming is likely to remain prevalent for a while yet, but there is a shift to increasingly more competitive games on mobile.

INDIA

Second only to China at 400 million smartphone users, India is one of the world’s fastest growing mobile games markets. Thanks to widespread availability of low-cost smartphones, affordable 4G service and F2P titles, mobile games have exploded in popularity in the nation. 65% of the population is also under 35, with a large market opening to capture teen and young adult gamers.

With how new game developers are within the country, non-Indian developers dominate the country’s top titles. Now that India has recently banned apps and games from China, local developers have a prime chance to cultivate domestic talent and directly appeal to fellow citizens. Prior to the ban, players have also begun moving from casual games to more competitive titles.

As the region is more likely to be using lower-spec devices, having “lite” versions of games would make it more likely to succeed. Garena Free Fire can deliver the same gameplay experience from low-end to higher-end devices, but Fortnite Mobile hasn’t cracked the top 10 due to requiring more processing power. Compare 36 million downloads of PUBG Mobile Lite to 1.2 million to Fortnite Mobile.

Many of India’s top mobile games have social, online and competitive elements, and since it’s still a relatively underdeveloped sector especially in regards to esports inclusion, there may yet be a demand to fill.

SOUTHEAST ASIA

Southeast Asia is incredibly diverse, as well as being among the most engaged mobile internet users in the world. 90% of 360 million internet users in the region accessed the internet via their mobile phones, and mobile games outpaced PC and console in both revenue and downloads in 2019. Appealing to a local audience is especially important for the region, with religion playing a big part in daily life. Developers will need to be mindful of respecting local norms and customs when promoting games in each market.

Facebook Gaming staged a multi-country Ramadan event, attracting gamers from Indonesia and Malaysia. Developers from outside the region worked with local figures and celebrities to promote their games, like Garena Free Fire partnering with Indonesian actor Joe Taslim.

Community is another factor to consider, as 60% of Southeast Asian gamers in a 2019 GameStart survey said they prefer to play with friends. This is reflected in the top grossing titles that feature social elements and teamwork, namely, Free Fire, Lineage, Mobile Legends and Ragnarok Online.

Government policies, besides the apparent desire for community play, have also helped drive esports titles and related tournaments further like those in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Between 2018 and 2019, prize pools grew 244%, and went from two top grossing esports titles in 2016 to five in 2019.

Garena Free Fire was the highest grossing mobile game in Q1 2020 reaching 80 million peak daily active users. To engage its growing user base in COVID-19’s wake, Garena organized more than double the online esports tournaments compared to the previous year, accumulating over 90 million total views.

Mobile Legends is another one of these titles where community and competition come together: April 2020’s Indonesia’s Mobile Legends Premier League (MPL) Season 5 saw 1.1 million peak concurrent viewers. Indonesian streamer Jess No Limit, whose content focuses on Mobile Legends, became the first Asian YouTube game streamer to hit 15 million subscribers. Maharaja Soloz, a Malaysian Mobile Legends streamer, hit 1.2 million subscribers on Facebook Gaming, the highest of any game streamer in the country.