China (Ep. 20)

About this episode

Mitch and Blake discuss the complexities of the Chinese gaming market and its global implications amidst trade tensions.

Mitch and Blake look at the current state of the vitally important Chinese gaming market, on the precipice of a bitter trade war resulting from the Trump tariffs. They review the history of the games business in China, discuss the reasons China is so competitive in the global gaming market, and look at how some of the ways the Chinese market diverged from other markets influenced the strategies of Chinese game companies. In particular, they look at how China's relatively late entry into the games business proved to be a benefit, by allowing them to skip the packaged goods era and therefore avoid all the ways that the packaged goods legacy has burdened incumbent US and European publishers. They discuss how the restrictions that the Chinese Communist Party places on the games business have influenced the development of the market, for better or worse. They analyze how this unique domestic situation pushed the top Chinese companies to look outside China to deploy capital to secure various strategic content and distribution advantages (e.g., Riot, Epic, Garena). They discuss the strategies of top Chinese publishers TenCent and Netease in this light. They talk about how US national…

People in this episode

Hosts: Mitch Lasky, Blake Robbins

Topics covered

• Chinese gaming market
• trade war
• game industry history
• competitive strategies
• Chinese publishers
• national security
• homegrown content

Keywords

• Chinese gaming market
• trade war
• TenCent
• Netease
• game industry
• national security
• homegrown content

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Chinese Communist Party, TenCent, Netease, Riot, Epic, Garena

Places: China, US, Europe

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