China's total PC and mobile gaming market revenue reached $33.1 billion in 2019 and is expected to reach $46.7 billion by 2024, market research firm Niko Partners said in a recent report.
The report said the number of PC players in China reached 321 million in 2019, with a market revenue of $14.6 billion and a 4% decline in revenue size from 2018.
Niko Partners sees market revenue for PC games in China continuing to decline by 5% in 2020.
There are many aspects involved, such as the epidemic that led to the closure of a large number of Internet cafes, the regulation of policy, the decrease in the number of new games, etc. But China is still the world's largest consumer market for PC games.
The number of Chinese mobile game players reached 637 million in 2019, with a market revenue of $18.5 billion and an 18.2% increase in revenue size compared to 2018.
Niko Partners predicts the market revenue for mobile games in China will grow to around $32 billion by 2024.
There are 685 million gamers in China in 2019, most of whom have dual identities as PC players and mobile gamers, and Niko Partners predicts that the total number of Chinese gamers will reach 772 million by 2024.
The percentage of female players continues to rise, from 42% in 2018 to 46% in 2019, and is expected to reach 50% by 2020. Female players are mainly focused on mobile games.
And eSports generated $13.9 billion in revenue in 2019 and is expected to reach $23.2 billion by 2024.
Cosmas Hanson, president of Niko Partners, said Chinese players' demand for games rose during the epidemic, leading to an expansion of the gaming market.
But when players return to normal life, the industry's upward trend will slow significantly. The popularity of some classic games has picked up because of the epidemic, but entertainment venues such as Internet cafes are having trouble returning to normal business levels.
Cosmas Hanson is bullish on the prospects for the Chinese mobile game market. She believes that the mobile game market is in greater demand than before and that better hardware and more new games will fuel the development of the mobile game industry.
Some of the mobile games of the e-gaming business will also see good opportunities for development.
