Kliuless? Gaming Industry ICYMI #27
Hi, my name is Kenny Liu, and I work in Revenue Strategy at Riot Games. Each week I compile a gaming industry insights newsletter that I share with other Rioters, including Riot’s senior leadership. This edition is the public version that I publish broadly every week as well. Opinions are mine.
See more or subscribe at: https://tinyletter.com/kliuless
Revenue Strategy
Major game publishers are feeling the impact of peaking attention
"[E]ngagement has declined throughout the sector, suggesting that the attention economy has peaked. Consumers simply do not have any more free time to allocate to new attention seeking digital entertainment propositions, which means they have to start prioritising between them"
Google gives Android developers new tools to make money from users who won’t pay
Parents increased game spending for their kids by 34% in 2018
Epic plans to add an undo button to Fortnite's in-game store
Bain: E-commerce in MENA
Multi-Platform / Post-Platform
Tim Sweeney: "The game business will change more in the next five years than the past ten"
"The last remnants of the old retail model of gaming are falling apart, and the biggest successes are fast-moving indies and fast-moving big competitors – exemplified by Fortnite and Apex Legends. All of the old decisions need to be revisited"
Related: The Division 2 will only be purchasable via Epic Games Store or company's own Uplay platform
Forte and Ripple form $100 million fund for mainstream blockchain games
Minecraft still has 91 million monthly players as it hits Game Pass
PC/Console
Nintendo announces VR kit for the Switch
Brendan Greene stepping away from PUBG to head up new R&D division
Mobile
Bloomberg: Samsung Working on Two More Foldable Smartphones
Google launches app campaign features to help mobile game developers grow their business
"We’re seeing that half the installs come within the first eight weeks of a launch"
Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent announced for smartphones
China
China regulator approves 95 new video games, including from Tencent, NetEase
Discussion of S-1 for Ruhnn, a Chinese social media influencer manager
Chinese online retailers slash iPhone prices for second time this year
The Economist: China’s formerly white-hot tech sector is in the doldrums
China’s economy is 12% smaller than official data say
Tech
China’s short video app TikTok passes 1bn global downloads, the first Chinese consumer app to become globally viral
Apple vs Qualcomm: A Dilemma with Chinese Characteristics
