Rewarding Opportunities and Deadly Traps In Importing Overseas Game Contents to China

Gaining agency rights of mobile games from overseas developers and having them imported to China might seem to be a great idea, but in fact, few companies can make a business leap by doing so in recent years. This is not because of the lack of fund, there’s more to it than that. To fix this, it’s essential for Chinese agents to have efficient communication with major producers of main stream games.

(Chinese Version)

Alto’s Adventure, a mobile game recently developed by Toronto’s Snowman Studios, boasts aesthetics similar to Monument Valley.

In recent years, a number of startup companies are trying to import quality gaming contents from foreign countries to China. For instance, The Music Funny Games, a company just got listed in August last year, also tried to acquire gaming contents from overseas providers. When asked about why the company got listed in just three years, an insider involved in the project funded by LeFund explained to TMT that the company takes impressive initiatives to team up with global content providers.

However, most companies with the same intention usually choose to send sales agents to stations in places like Silicon Valley, which is populated by numerous great content providers. Since most of the companies are having a really hard time getting any agency contracts, this kind of thinking clearly doesn’t really work. There are a few factors that are contributing to this dilemma.

Importing mobile games has become a popular business

Mobile game market has a promising future and it already has a relatively large market size. According to a report recently released by the Netherlands-based market research firm Newzoo, the global revenues for mobile game market will hit over 100 billion dollars by 2017. The report also shows that this is greatly stimulated by the rise of Asian market and the dramatic development of mobile games.

According to the Mobile Game Industry Insight 2014 published by PwC, 50% of the Internet users in China are active users of mobile game contents. With the development of smart phones, wireless network and 4G technologies, the compounded annual growth rate for mobile game market in China has the potential to reach 11.8% in 5 years.

The dramatic development of both global and domestic markets is brewing new market opportunities. One of the important things that many mobile game startups are brainstorming for is how to build a communication bridge between Chinese agents and American content providers, and facilitate a win-win system for the content providers, Chinese agents and the game issuers.

The reality is that the demand for mobile gaming content is extremely high and that overseas content providers are also eager to get access to the Chinese market. Eventually, this encouraged lots of startups to enter the business of importing overseas gaming contents.

Small and medium-sized agents in China need gaming contents very badly

Generally, games are categorized into three kinds: client games, web games and mobile games. Among them, mobile games are incredibly different from the other two in terms of business models and distribution models. Client games and web games are more difficult to produce, therefore there aren't many content providers, agents and issuers who can enter these two sectors. As for mobile games, the R&D period is shorter and the cost is lower, which accounts for the booming number of mobile game content providers, agents and issuers. It is reported that China already has several thousand Android-based mobile game agents.

Of nothing comes nothing. The resources needed most by the fast-growing Android based mobile game agents and issuers are quality gaming contents. But this is exactly the thing that small and medium sized agents couldn’t get their hands on. Top-notch university graduate Li is fond of mobile games. He also saw the future prospect of the mobile game industry and opened an Android based mobile game agency by himself. But after a year of operation he only found one content provider who’s willing to partner with him. In fact, thousands of agents in China are confronted by similar dilemmas.

“It’s very hard for small and medium sized agents to get the content they need. Big content providers like Perfect World Network Technology, Qihoo360 and Kalends are also agents themselves, so they can make games and sell them directly. Other great content providers either belong to some big agents or have already formed exclusive partnership with other big agents. Some content providers’ high agency fees also exclude a lot of agents from cooperating with them. It’s almost impossible for small and medium sized agents to get mobile games from great American content providers.” Andy Hybels, a professional mobile game producer in the U.S. told TMT Post. ‘‘Plus that mobile games from those not-so-good content providers are all pretty similar, and usually of low quality. Even small and medium sized agents don’t have the incentives to agent them.”

In fact, not only small and medium sized agents are in great need of quality mobile game contents, the newly emerged mobile game developers in China are also facing the same problem. “ Right now, with the number of small and medium sized mobile game agents rising continually and the real estate industry finally cooling down, more and more traditional enterprises also have their eyes on the lucrative mobile game market. Many big enterprises are working to extend their business to the mobile game sector. And for ‘half-way’ beginners like them, they don’t have the bargaining chip to negotiate with content providers. They are also seeking for suitable contents to invest in.

To cooperate with overseas content providers, the key is to reach consensus on the production process

Inspired by overseas hit games like Angry Bird and Clash of Clans, small and medium sized agents in China tend to be extremely interested in overseas mobile game contents with innovation, advanced production and mature business models. For them, the problem is how to get agency rights at a reasonable price.

What’s more, overseas game content providers want to export their games to China, a country with a huge consumer base. But they are also running into a lot of difficulties.

First of all, it’s not easy to find the appropriate partners to export games to China. Most overseas content providers want to work with agents that pay close attention to the production of the games. In other words, they are finding partners that could earn their trust at the production level. Whether the agents can earn their trust directly decides the outcome of the negotiation.

“At the end of the day, it’s not about the money”, Andy Hybels said, “Currently, many content providers have been approached by Chinese sales agents stationed in the U.S. If the sales agents couldn’t convince them that their agencies could provide the contents with needed post-production support, no contract will be signed. ”

This is different from the Chinese mobile game industry. It’s known to all that even though big agents and domestic contents providers couldn’t reach an agreement on the production level, domestic content providers would usually compromise for sound sales performance. It’s entirely different overseas. If Chinese agents want to get agency rights from overseas content providers, they have to reach an agreement on the production level with the providers.”

This explains why many Chinese agent companies fail to build up their business size. They couldn’t deliver efficient communication with major game producers in the overseas mobile game industry.

‘‘To be frank, in order to get as much contents as possible, your company has to behave like an American company. Only in this way can you catch the attention of the content providers. Of course, your company’s core staffs - technical directors, executive producers and main designers - must have experience working for major companies such as EA and SEGA. If you have these two qualifications, then you would have a great chance of getting the contracts you want in negotiation,’’ Andy Hybels suggested.

(The article is published and edited with authorization from the author @Chen Chen, please note source and hyperlink when reproduce.)

Translated by Garret Lee(Senior Translator at ECHO), working for TMTpost.

转载请注明出处、作者和本文链接
声明:文章内容仅供参考、交流、学习、不构成投资建议。
想和千万钛媒体用户分享你的新奇观点和发现,点击这里投稿 。创业或融资寻求报道,点击这里

敬原创,有钛度,得赞赏

赞赏支持
发表评论
0 / 300

根据《网络安全法》实名制要求,请绑定手机号后发表评论

登录后输入评论内容

扫描下载App