In China, there is a clear preference for free-to-play games. According to a survey, 61% of the players in the Middle Kingdom choose free games over premium.
Game for Peace
A survey among 1,007 players was conducted by Mintegral and Newzoo. Here’s what they found:
- 85% of the respondents spend money in mobile games;
- 3% of them can shell out more than $50 per month. On average, the Chinese players spend $ 5.80;
- gamers aged 26-30 are the biggest spender, they typically spend $10;
- 72% are also comfortable using subscription services.
“Mobile advertising is about more than just monetisation, as programmatic mobile ads have become the key user acquisition method for any F2P game,” said Mintegral CEO Erick Fang.
“Interestingly, in the responses we collected, there was a clear preference for more interactive and engaging ad formats, such as rewarded video, playable ads, and VR and AR content.”
Eric Fang, Mintegral CEO, via Gamesindustry.biz
In other findings, the Chinese players turned out to be picky and conservative. They often select a small number of games they like and stick with them for a long time.
- 92% of the respondents can play the same game for more than a week;
- 87% played less than five different titles over the past month.
In conclusion, the study found that the largest mobile store in China is the App Store which accounts for 30% of the market. It’s followed by MyApp (29%) and Huawei (26%). Recently we wrote about the fragmented storefronts in China.