China's m-gaming market expected to surpass U.S. market

New York-based game sector researcher SuperData Research Inc., in collaboration with mobile data analyst TakingData, issued a report that said the mobile gaming market in China will shortly overtake the U.S. market. The researchers said Chinese gamers are on track to spend about $3 billion on mobile games in 2014, while the corresponding U.S. market may have plateaued at $3.2 billion.

According to the Digital Games Market Brief: United States & China, the average revenue per paying customer (ARPPU) in China grew by 20 percent since 2013, while the ARPPU in the United States stands at $21. In China, the conversation rate of turning Chinese free-to-play gamers into in-game payers also grew by 20 percent since 2013, the report said.

SuperData noted that Chinese game developers have substantially increased their marketing budgets. In comparing January 2013 marketing costs to the January 2014 numbers, marketing costs have more than doubled. Meanwhile, in the U.S. market the cost per install (CPI) – the amount of money it takes per user for game developers to get users to download and install their gaming apps – grew by 36 percent since 2013, according to SuperData.

"Developers in both markets will need to focus on researching effective monetization mechanics and their most lucrative audiences in order to conquer an increasingly competitive and ubiquitously free-to-play market," SuperData said.

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