China’s game market sales fell 10% last year and grew backward for the first time in eight years, TechCrunch repoted.
According to reports, sales in the China’s game market last year were 265.884 billion yuan, down 10.3% from the previous year.
Among them, game sales developed by native Chinese companies amounted to only 222.377 billion yuan, down 13.1% from the previous year, which was greater.
The number of game users was also 664 million, down 0.33% from the previous year.
The Chinese game market began to slow down in 2021 and recorded negative growth for the first time in eight years last year, the Pengpai Shimbun said.
The China Game Industry Research Institute said in its “2022 Game Industry Report” released on the 14th that game users’ ability to pay and consumer sentiment was dampened by the economic downturn caused by the spread of COVID-19, which disrupted game companies’ development and release of new products.
In addition, he explained that the effect of strengthening regulations on youth games has affected the deterioration of profitability in the game industry.
At the end of August 2021, Chinese authorities defined games as “mental opium” and implemented a game addiction prevention law that allows only three hours of online games a week for teenagers under the age of 18.
Accordingly, Chinese teenagers can play games for only one hour every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.
In November last year, China’s largest game company, Tencent, announced its third-quarter earnings, down 4.6% year-on-year, saying, “We are implementing the world’s best youth protection measures in line with China’s laws.”
China’s game market is no longer a market where you can make a lot of money if you release any game, said Quaker, a Chinese IT (information technology) media outlet. “If you raise the level of games, you will be able to satisfy more demanding gamers.”
