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US gamers spend 8x more on average than Chinese gamers on video game software
- Thread starter ZhugeEX
- Start date
Melchiah
Member
Yeah, I was surprised by that too. I probably spend that amount in a month or two. I wonder how the European averages are compared to US?
Mithos
Member
I'm at ~100-150 this year on games in total so far.
This is such a weirdly specific lists of hobbies. Gotta admit, I laughed.
Melchiah
Member
I'm close to 400 this year, if I haven't forgotten any purchases.
gunstarhero
Member
We win!
Krappadizzle
Member
I always knew I was an above-average gamer.
I would have never guessed that China spends so little comparatively.
I would have never guessed that China spends so little comparatively.
Kralamoonard
Member
Great thread Zhuge, knew you wouldn't let us down with another in-depth analysis.
What I found really interesting about your post was the part where you mentioned how Sony and MS need to penetrate the market with possibly more familiar ways to the market of selling their known software titles i.e via F2P or whatnot and have to build up their reputation to target and grow the Chinese player base. And as you said it doesn't happen over night and will take a few years to nurture that player base and make it grow.
I mean we've already seen MS doing that by selling an online F2P Halo game on PC exclusively in Russia IIRC; maybe we can see similar spin offs or downloadable titles to test the waters in the Chinese gaming market; what do you think?
Thanks
Indeed, that isn't something that will happen overnight and even now the people purchasing consoles seem to be the people who would have imported them anyway or have an interest in console gaming. Sony need to reach the mass market and the only way they can do that is by countering set tops through pricing and also by bringing unique games to China.
Right now both companies have made a loss entering the Chinese market (no surprise there) so they need to find a way to turn that around and I strongly believe that it's all about the software/services available and the distribution model/price for hardware.
In regards to Halo Online I can see it bought to China, even if MS have denied it in the past. But I certainly can see them bringing more and more domestically developed games to China as well as popular overseas IP to China as well. To start with the majority will be straight ports but we should start seeing more unique experiences on console in China shortly.
In fact one way Sony have been active in China is to announce a slew of upcoming games through a press conference, actively market the console on the internet/media, create indie developer competitions to provide funding/get games to PS4, Work with and fund local developers + open a PS fans club where members get rewards and stuff.
In general yes.
Not to mention that pretty much all games are free to play or can be pirated for free as the article states.
1st Course
Member
$80 is the average across all demographics. Good chunk of the mobile/F2p audince don't pay anything at all, this should bring the average down quit significantly I imagine.
According to NPD over $13 billion was spent on video games last year (retail only). On a supposed 70-80m (?) active install base that easily translate to 3 digit figure.
Also like Zhuge (nice write up btw) mentioned the vast majority of game revenue in China is generated by F2P games so natural the average spending seems low.
Blackstarhat
Member
it really does i never pay $60 for a game.
Quick question, where do you get $13 billion for retail only? According to NPD the total spend on video game software at retail was $5.5 billion and digital spending reached $9.9 billion. This includes all video games software on Console, PC & Mobile as well as DLC, In app purchases and subscriptions.
Total spend on Video games software in the US was therefore $15.4 billion in 2014 and with over 180 million gamers in the country the average spend was around $80 per gamer.
60% of the total gamer population in the US actually spend money on games via full game purchases, DLC, in app purchases etc... and therefore the average spent then jumps up to $150 per person on video game software. If you look at the entire industry at a whole (~$22b) then average spend within that 60% is around $220 across hardware, software and accessories within interactive entertainment gaming.
1st Course
Member
Quick question, where do you get $13 billion for retail only? According to NPD the total spend on video game software at retail was $5.5 billion and digital spending reached $9.9 billion. This includes all video games software on Console, PC & Mobile as well as DLC, In app purchases and subscriptions.
Total spend on Video games software in the US was therefore $15.4 billion in 2014 and with over 180 million gamers in the country the average spend was around $80 per gamer.
60% of the total gamer population in the US actually spend money on games via full game purchases, DLC, in app purchases etc... and therefore the average spent then jumps up to $150 per person on video game software. If you look at the entire industry at a whole (~$22b) then average spend within that 60% is around $220 across hardware, software and accessories within interactive entertainment gaming.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...games-industry-to-usd13-1-billion-in-2014-npd
software + hardware + accessories
That 60% stands in stark contrast to the 35% of Chinese gamers who spend money. The really shocking part about your article is that even with that 35%, China will be responsible for higher gaming software revenue than the US! Even with a modest increase in the number of paying customers or the average amount spent will see huge increases in overall spendings. The only question is how the gaming industry plans to do this and who will profit the most.
Business-wise, China holds by far the most growth potential, but most of the big players seem to either not trying to enter the market or don't have any idea how to do so. Hollywood managed to conquer that same hurdle, so it remains to be seen if the video game industry can do the same.
Cool, thanks for clarifying
I thought I'd got my figures horribly wrong for a second haha!
I don't think the bolded is quite true. Certainly when it comes to console gaming then it is true.
But when it comes to PC and Mobile games then there are some really big Western publishers bringing their games to China. For example a lot of publishers are working with Tencent, the most notable being riot games with League of Legends which is one of the most popular games in China. You've got Call of Duty Online from Activision, NBA2K online from Take Two, World of Warcraft and Hearthstone from Blizzard, World of Tanks from Wargaming & Guild Wars 2 from ArenaNet. esports on some of these games is massive there as well! (DOTA and LoL)
Then you have the mobile arena where games like Candy Crush and Clash of Clans have done well. Even Minecraft has done exceptionally well on Mobile in China. But mobile is hard to crack for western publishers and you need a company to assist if you want the best results.
There is certainly room for more Western publishers to enter as well and we could see more and more Western games going to China and bringing in additional revenue.
I also hope the opposite happens and we get more Chinese games being sold overseas.
Not really, but there's another important aspect to keep in mind here. The purchasing power in China is distributed differently than in the U.S.
Most of rural China is poor (by Chinese standards of course), and even most of the urban population doesn't have that much disposable income.
My point is more that overseas gaming companies aren't trying very hard to change the gaming paradigms in China. The companies that do well do so by making F2P games or other similar pricing models. This is in contrast to Hollywood where they're able to attract large Chinese audiences to the theaters. There's nothing particularly wrong with their approach, but it also doesn't do much to promote industry growth.
I'd love to see that as well, especially if they're the kinds of games that were popular before F2P was a thing like the Chinese Paladin and Heroes of Jin Yong games. If these games can gain a foothold overseas they can be a boost to Chinese cultural exports.
A lot of that lack of disposable income is explained by China's high saving rate. Chinese households save about 30% of their disposable income vs. 5-6% for American households.
Ah got you!
Yes it's amazing how much Hollywood has grown in China without needing to do much at all really. They've been making subtle changes such as with Transformers (which was hyped to hell and beyond in China even before it was being made) and also marketing quite heavily.
Sony and MS can't just market the PS4/One as it is but with couple of Chinese games thrown in (akin to what Hollywood are doing), they need to go further as you say. The Chinese game industry isn't growing for consoles, unlike how the movie industry in China is growing and accepting of all types of films.
Seriously...
I guess the mainstream buy 1 game per year...Madden or COD.
Geez, I should really cut on my spending habit as well and try to aim for that $80 avg lol.
The mainstream don't have consoles. As sad as that is.