Developers are waiting for the return of Google Play to the Chinese market



    China is one of the largest markets for the gaming industry, but, like any of the markets, it has its own characteristics. According to analysts from Niko Partners, the local market turnover amounted to about $ 5.5 billion in profit last year, but only a small part of this went to foreign developers and there are several reasons for this. Officially, Google left China in 2011, which means that there is no Google Play in the country and instead, about 200-400 local stores for Android smartphones have been opened, which impede the creation of a single tool for distributing content for all publishers and developers.

    The high fragmentation of Android devices forces foreign developers to abandon the independent distribution of their own applications and games. Instead, local publishers are popular, who take a fairly high percentage of any type of income in the application - from in-game purchases to a standard monthly subscription to any of the services.

    Therefore, almost all developers now sincerely hope that Google will return to the local market with Google Play.

    “As developers, we really want Google Play to return to the Chinese market as early as possible,”  said Vice President of RedAtoms Studio, which released Three Kingdoms Now, with GamesBeat.


    Representatives of the studio are also unhappy with the high commissions that publishers have to pay. This eliminates any competition with local developers who can distribute their applications with a much lower commission. Moreover, even large publishers such as Netease agree with foreign developers.

    “The Android device market is currently in a terrible state. From the point of view of our company, it would be great if Google returned to China. This would be beneficial for developers and publishers. And the country's government probably knows this, ”said Netease manager Harry Huang.


    Not so long ago, rumors appeared in the network about negotiations between Google and the Chinese government regarding a possible return to the local market. Officials are under pressure from representatives of the IT industry and local residents, whose increased technical literacy raises questions about the inconsistency of the ban on the use of Google Play.

    In the case of commissions, the situation sometimes reaches the point of absurdity - local publishers can take about 70% of the total income in the game against 30% in the case of Google Play. And of course, Google Play provides an opportunity to license your own projects, and this is a serious problem for the local market at the moment.

    “It seems to me that Google Play will fix the situation with copying games and their mechanics in China. Now, with the release of a successful overseas project, you can almost immediately find a similar clone in the Chinese market, ”said Stephen Lee, CEO of 6Waves.


    The re-launch of Google Play in China could have a significant impact on the mobile gaming and app market in general. Despite the small solvency, the number of potential users allows you to fully compensate for this. And the total revenue from this segment can make China one of the most important markets for mobile developers, to which the largest publishers join the fight.

    Also popular now: