Game on at ChinaJoy
Gamers play the latest games during ChinaJoy, after Asia's biggest game show opened to the public in Shanghai on Friday.
The ChinaJoy Digital Entertainment Expo and Conference, Asia's top gaming exhibition, opened to the public on Friday, featuring the latest games, hardware and cutting-edge technologies.
Some 101,177 people visited the show on its first day — 6,249 more than last year — to see the 4,000 games and 5,000 smart entertainment devices from around 300 exhibitors that were on display.
The global expansion of Chinese developers and 5G are among the hot topics at ChinaJoy, which is at the Shanghai New International Expo Center until Monday.
In the first half of the year, Chinese firms made 38.1 billion yuan (US$5.6 billion) in the overseas game market, a 24.5 percent growth year-on-year and more than triple the growth rate of the domestic game market, according to a Chinese gaming industry report.
During ChinaJoy, Sino Group is launching its Game Plus platform to help local gaming firms explore overseas markets, offering "painless" marketing and customer services.
Gaming firms still face challenges overseas, with complicated environments, different cultures and new channels such as Tik Tok, the social media video app, said Charles Shen, Sino's founder and CEO.
In 2018, there were 18 Chinese game firms with overseas revenue over 500 million yuan, compared with just five in 2015, according to Google.
In the smart entertainment hall, Qualcomm joined with firms such as Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi and OnePlus to demonstrate the latest mobile game features and 5G connections. This year is the first time that ChinaJoy had 5G network coverage in a whole hall. China issued 5G licenses nationwide in June.
Oppo, which is at ChinaJoy for the first time, is holding a gaming contest for 100 people and showcasing new technologies such as Game Color Plus, dual Wi-Fi connections and super-fast charging on its Reno phone. It claims to provide mobile players with better displays, connections and battery life.
China has more than 620 million mobile game users, a 6 percent growth from a year ago. Industry insiders said 5G, which offers higher speed and lower latency, will boost the mobile game sector.
Gaming hardware from Nintendo and Nvidia is also on show at ChinaJoy.
Japan-based Nintendo and Chinese game giant Tencent announced new details of Switch to be sold in the Chinese mainland. Nintendo’s Switch is a game console popular throughout the world.
The top five PC games, including League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, or eSports games, require the latest technology in chips, graphic cards, monitors and keyboards.
Nvidia, the world’s biggest computing graphic firm, displayed graphic products for eSports and broadcasting.
An eSports forum to be held on Saturday will feature top government and industry officials. Shanghai wants to be a global eSports hub within three to five years.
