Niko Partners

Research

19 documents

Documents

Asia dominates the global mobile esports landscape, accounting for 68% of the $19.5 billion in total global mobile esports revenue generated in 2019.
China is the world's largest esports market with 350 million fans, while Southeast Asia experienced a 244% surge in tournament prize values between 2018 and 2019.
Global esports prize pools grew by 40% between 2017 and 2019, reaching a total valuation exceeding $228 million.

Niko PartnersJul 2020

Female gamers in Asia grew to 38% of the 1.33 billion total regional gaming population by 2019, up from 32% in 2017.
Mobile is the primary platform for this demographic, with 95% of female gamers in Asia playing on mobile devices.
Female gamers contributed 35% of mobile gaming revenue in 2019, with projections estimating an increase to 39% in 2020.

Niko PartnersJun 2020

Asia accounts for over 50% of the global mobile gaming player base and generates the majority of the industry's total mobile revenue.
Mobile esports and competitive, socially-driven titles are displacing traditional genres across all Asian markets, marking a major shift in consumer preference through the first half of 2020.
China remains the largest market, where success is driven by migrating PC intellectual properties to mobile and navigating a regulatory environment that requires domestic partnerships.

Niko PartnersJan 2020

China’s video game revenue grew by approximately 30% in Q1 2020 compared to Q1 2019, fueled by increased engagement during the Lunar New Year holiday.
Mobile and PC gaming saw significant spikes in both engagement and spending, with 97% of mobile gamers and 94.6% of PC gamers reporting increased play time.
Casual mobile games experienced a surge in popularity, recording 3 to 4 times their usual monthly visit volume during the lockdown period.

Niko PartnersJan 2020

Free-to-play (F2P) is the dominant monetization model in Asia, accounting for 98.5% of all mobile games revenue in 2019 and 100% of top-grossing titles in China.
Japan is the most lucrative mobile market in the region, generating $12.84 in revenue per download compared to the $1.53 regional average.
Emerging markets like India are rapidly adopting sophisticated monetization, with battle passes appearing in 50% of the country's top-grossing games by early 2020.

Niko PartnersJan 2020

Mobile esports is projected to overtake PC esports as the dominant global competitive gaming format, leveraging a player base of 2.53 billion that exceeds the combined reach of PC and console gaming.
Mobile esports titles generated $15.32 billion in revenue in 2018, accounting for more than 25% of the total mobile gaming market.
The sector is shifting from a publisher-funded marketing tool to a scalable, professionalized industry supported by media rights, sponsorships, and microtransaction-based models like season passes.

Niko PartnersJan 2019

Tencent successfully recovered from a 2018 regulatory freeze by migrating 150 million monthly active users from PUBG Mobile to the compliant, self-developed title Peacekeeper Elite, resulting in $5.2 billion in quarterly gaming revenue.
The company is mitigating domestic regulatory risks through aggressive international expansion, including the acquisition of Western studios like Sharkmob and licensing major IP such as Call of Duty and Street Fighter.
Tencent is diversifying beyond mobile free-to-play models by growing its WeGame platform to 70 million monthly active users and securing an exclusive partnership to distribute the Nintendo Switch in China.

Niko PartnersJan 2019