After decades, China’s video game sales have declined by %10.3 year-over-year to $40.1 billion. According to South China Morning Post, this is the first decline the Chinese gaming market has seen since 2003, the year China started to record the reports.
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Video game sales are not the only category that declined drastically. Mobile game sales, which account for over 70% of total sales, have reduced by 14.4%, while the number of total players has decreased by 0.33%. Even though the numbers are considerably high, China remains the biggest gaming in the market.
The Gaming Publishing Committee of the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association posted on its official account and stated, “The whole industry is under pressure.” The association believes that COVID-19 restrictions played a significant part in the decline. The association pointed to several factors; limited production and R&D activities, a tough recruitment market, weak investment confidence, declining consumer expenditure, and strong overseas competition.
China’s strict policy on game licenses may also have led to a drop in sales since Chinese companies have resorted to remakes lately. Compared to 2021, China licensed around 200 fewer games and rise of international competition
2022 Q3 was considered as the worst quarter since 2020 Q1, the beginning of COVID quarantines. As a result of the sales drop, the Chinese mobile game market suffered heavily, as it saw a decline of 19% compared to Q3 of 2021. The market brought in total revenue of $8 billion.
