Despite the importance of the Chinese market is to the global games infrastructure, and how many publishers are trying to buy into the region before it’s too late, China itself still seems a little bit unknowable.

Western developers have long been localizing for the Japanese market, and the ground zero of the eSports revolution is fixed squarely on Seoul. But a mixture of censorship, restrictive government policy, and genuine differences in taste has kept the China’s games culture remote. 

Since 2002, Niko Partners has studied and interpreted Chinese gaming trends, filling the gaps and answering the questions for anyone interested in bringing their product across the Pacific. I recently caught up with senior analyst and China director Zeng Xiaofeng, and asked him what he thought were some of the crucial things Western publishers need to understand when trying to break into the games market in China. 

The first, and arguably the most imperative thing Xiaofeng detailed is the labyrinthine process of successfully (and legally) licensing a video game in China. Despite the country’s notable flirtations with the free market, all mobile games that enter the Chinese public forum must be pre-approved by the government, or more specifically, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television.

Some of the restrictions are notably arcane. For instance, all the text in games released in China must be written entirely in Chinese. Also, in order for a company to receive their revenue, they need to secure a very specific license from the government. The only problem is that those licenses aren’t available to foreigners.

As of July 1st, the arduous process involves completing an application, sending it to provincial authorities for approval, who will then forward it along to the municipal office for another once-over, before being sent back down the chain for a final handover. “There is so much red tape that it filled a 100-page regulatory report we released,” says Xiaofeng.

Dungeon & Fighter is still popular in China a decade after its debut

In the West, we pretty much download our apps through either the App Store, or the Google Play Store. Those two platforms are built into our phones, and it seems extremely unnecessary to seek out an externalized merchant. But that’s not the case for Chinese Android phones. The country has a massive third-party app store industry, and it can be really difficult to get your head around. 

The sector makes sense when you think about it. Google has been blocked in China since 2014, so naturally, other tech companies native to the region flocked in to fill the gap. Xiaofeng tells me that if you’re going to launch a successful Android game in China, you’ll need an intrinsic knowledge of the myriad consumer choices.

To give you some sense of the app store industry’s depth, here are some of the major players. Baidu, which shares a name and ownership with the China’s largest search engine. Tencent, the company that purchased Riot Games, runs the massive social networking site WeChat. Then there’s Wandoujia, a startup with over $120 million in VC funding.

Wandoujia CEO at recent keynote

We’ve heard horror stories about people who hole up in Internet cafes to play MMOs for days on end. But Xiaofeng says that many internet cafes in small or mid-sized Chinese cities serve utilitarian purposes – they are literally the only way some people can play games.

Xiaofeng believes that the setups at the more elaborate cafes in cosmopolitan areas of China are a window into future market opportunities in the West. There, cafes are outfitted with the horizontal, 5v5 set-up you might be familiar with from live eSports broadcasts. “They are great for eSports viewing and participation, and for coaching as well,” says Xiaofeng. “In the US, they hardly exist at this time, but I feel that more will be built with the high-end eSports focus in mind.”

Cross Fire is another title that’s been a consistent hit in China for over a decade

The Japanese and Western gaming markets are pretty diverse. You’ve got epic, fully immersive single-player adventures like Final Fantasy and Horizon: Zero Dawn, annualized sports franchises like Madden and FIFA, and casual multiplayer endeavors that run the gamut from Call of Duty to Gang Beasts. That’s not exactly the case in China.

Xiaofeng tells me that gamers in the People’s Republic prefer long, grind-y persistent experiences. “Chinese players love to level up and be competitive,” says Xiaofeng. “To the point that they would rather turn off the graphics if it helps speed up gameplay in order to level up faster.” 

In 2015 TechInAsia reported that the most popular PC games in China were the free-to-play Korean first-person shooter Crossfire, the massively-multiplayer isometric beat ‘em up Dungeon & Fighter, and (of course,) League of Legends. There’s a real commitment to games. These are the exact same three games that were the most popular in China back in 2013.  Dungeon & Fighter and Crossfire were released in 2005 and 2007 respectively, and League of Legends has been available in China for eight years.

Xiaofeng also notes that Chinese gamers are turned off by realistic imagery, and instead prefer their content to be drawn with “anime-style graphics and cartoon-style avatars.” But despite this general preference, and all of the cultural affinities Ziaofeng highlights, it’s telling that PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is currently one of the top-streamed games on the Chinese streaming site Douyo. Game fans in China are not immune to global trends.

Within Xbox Customer Experience and Support, our goal is to make gamers happy and to help them get the most out of their Xbox experience. Whether it’s discovering new ways to play, learning tips for maximizing the features you already use, or finding help when something goes wrong, the new Xbox Assist app has you covered.

Xbox Assist is personalized to help you optimize your Xbox experience for the games you play and the way you play them. You’ll find guides to new features, how-to videos, suggestions for features that might be valuable to you and a lot more. You already know there are many ways to play with Xbox, and Xbox Assist will help you find and take advantage of even more.

On top of getting the most out of your Xbox, Xbox Assist will provide personalized notifications and tips based on system, service and account status.  For example, Xbox Assist can prompt you to take advantage of unclaimed benefits such as free game downloads; explain how to automatically download games so you can start playing as quickly as possible; remap buttons on your Elite controller so that you get the most out of it; and notify you if you are running out of storage space.  Xbox Assist also enables you to easily browse support content and launch troubleshooters for common issues, directly from your console. And you’ll be able to check the status of Xbox Live services and know what’s going on with the features and services that matter to you.

Xbox Assist is currently available in preview for select Xbox Insider rings and releasing broadly later this Fall as a replacement for Xbox Help. With the upcoming release of Xbox Assist on the Xbox One family of devices, including Xbox One X, you will have personalized help content and tools on a console-friendly experience, right at your fingertips.

Outside of Xbox Assist, we’re also happy to share that, in partnership with the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk, Xbox support for Accounts and Billing is now available in American Sign Language (ASL) for Xbox gamers in the United States with hearing loss or who are deaf.  This new offering is integral to the spirt of Xbox in that it displays our dedication to all Xbox customers and helps ensure we’re making Xbox a place where all gamers can have fun and enjoy their Xbox experience.  To learn more about ASL support, check out this video starring Oscar-winning actress Marlee Matlin and visit the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk. To videophone us for American Sign Language support in the United States, call 1-503-427-1234 Monday to Friday from 8:30am to 5pm (PST).

These are just a few of the projects our customer support teams have been working on to improve our fans’ experiences, and we’re looking forward to sharing more new features with you in the coming months.

Cuphead is Now Available on Steam!

Cuphead is a classic run and gun action game heavily focused on boss battles. Inspired by cartoons of the 1930s, the visuals and audio are painstakingly created with the same techniques of the era, i.e. traditional hand drawn cel animation, watercolor backgrounds, and original jazz recordings.

Blizzard Entertainment’s sci-fi classic emerges from the warp gate with 4K Ultra HD graphics, enhanced audio, and the same timeless real-time strategy gameplay that captivated a generation

Reexperience the war between the terrans, protoss, and zerg NOW at www.starcraft.com

IRVINE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Battlecruisers are operational, the Corsairs stand ready, and the Zerglings are boosted for the rush. StarCraft^®: Remastered, Blizzard Entertainment’s lovingly crafted upgrade of the real-time strategy classic and its legendary expansion Brood War^®, is NOW LIVE and available to purchase digitally at www.starcraft.com and through the Blizzard Shop.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170814005960/en/

StarCraft: Remastered upgrades the original sci-fi classic with 4K graphics, enhanced music sound, and more. (Graphic: Business Wire)

Widely regarded as one of the most influential strategy games of all time, StarCraft and Brood War tell the story of the first interstellar war between three distinctive factions: the Earth-born terrans, psi-powered protoss, and hive-minded zerg. StarCraft: Remastered lets players reexperience the saga of iconic characters like Jim Raynor, High Templar Tassadar, and Kerrigan, through upgraded 4K visuals, enhanced audio and music, and new illustrated story interludes.

StarCraft: Remastered continues to use the same legendary gameplay engine that’s made StarCraft a competitive gaming and esports staple for nearly two decades. The classic gameplay is reinforced with new online features that propel the multiplayer experience into the modern era and beyond. Remastered provides players with matchmaking and leaderboards, cloud saves, as well as full multiplayer compatibility with the original versions of StarCraft and Brood War.

“We know how much StarCraft and Brood War mean to our community around the world, and our primary mission with StarCraft: Remastered was to enhance as much as we could while keeping the core StarCraft experience intact,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “Whether you’re a StarCraft veteran or you’re experiencing the beginning of the saga for the first time, we hope you enjoy revisiting the Koprulu Sector as much as we did.”

StarCraft: Remastered provides players with an arsenal of new updates and features, including:

• Full graphical upgrade of the original StarCraft and the StarCraft: Brood War expansion
• Widescreen UHD support for up to 4K resolution
• Matchmaking and leaderboards
• Player profiles that track individual statistics
• Cloud saving for campaign progress, hotkeys, and replays
• Improved high fidelity music and sound
• Ability to switch between Remastered and the original StarCraft with the click of a button

StarCraft: Remastered is available now digitally for Windows^® and Mac^® PCs for $14.99 USD, and is available in English, Brazilian Portuguese, Latin American Spanish, French, German, European Spanish, Italian, Polish, Russian, Korean, Japanese, and simplified and traditional Chinese. To purchase or learn more about StarCraft: Remastered, visit www.starcraft.com.

About Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.

Best known for blockbuster hits including World of Warcraft^®, Hearthstone^®, Overwatch^®, the Warcraft^®, StarCraft^®, and Diablo^® franchises, and the multi-franchise Heroes of the Storm^®, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a division of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating some of the industry’s most critically acclaimed games. Blizzard Entertainment’s track record includes twenty-one #1 games* and multiple Game of the Year awards. The company’s online-gaming service is one of the largest in the world, with millions of active players.

*Sales and/or downloads, based on internal company records and reports from key distribution partners.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170814005960/en/

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
Andrew Reynolds
Global PR Director
949.955.1380 x14301
areynolds@blizzard.com
or
Bob Colayco
PR Manager
949.955.1380 x14198
bcolayco@blizzard.com

Source: Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.

News Provided by Acquire Media

Nintendo and Mojang have announced the surprise release of Minecraft on Nintendo 3DS. This is a separate edition of the game designed specifically for the 3DS.

• Compatible with the following 3DS consoles: New Nintendo 3DS, New Nintendo 3DS XL, and New Nintendo 2DS XL
• Priced at $29.99
• Maximum world size is 2016 x 2016 and 128 blocks high
• Inventory and crafting make use of the 3DS touch screen
• Does not support multiplayer, local multiplayer will be added at a later date
• This is not a console or Bedrock edition of the game, it is a 3DS specific version and the closest equivalent edition in features is the 0.15 Friendly Update version for Minecraft: Pocket Edition
• This edition of Minecraft will continue to receive updates
• Available on the Nintendo eShop now in America and Japan, and launching in Europe very soon
• A packaged cartridge will be available in retail stores at a later date
• There are 6 skin packs included with the game, Biome Settlers Pack 1, Biome Settlers Pack 2, Redstone Specialists, Journey to the West, and Holiday Skin Pack 2015
• There are 2 texture packs included with the game, City and Plastic

Here’s what Mojang had to say on Minecraft.net:

Just a few months after we brought Minecraft to Nintendo Switch, we’re double-dipping with the big N to bring the game to the New Nintendo 3DS series. Whatever next, an N64 port? Get on it, Jens! […] That dual screen setup helps make crafting easier than ever, with quicker access to your inventory and a handy map on the touch screen, perfect for charting out your worlds.