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80% of Western studios want to ship in China. Most can't name the storefront they'd ship to.
Rokky commissioned Atomik Research to survey 300 senior game developers across the US and UK on their plans for China. Eighty percent intend to launch a title there within two years. On the mechanics of the market, which storefronts matter, how players buy, what licensing actually governs — their answers were far less consistent.
The full results are published in our new whitepaper, By The Book? Western Developer Perceptions of China's PC Games Market. The findings below are the ones most relevant to studios building a China plan.
The full results are published in our new whitepaper, By The Book? Western Developer Perceptions of China's PC Games Market. The findings below are the ones most relevant to studios building a China plan.
Key Findings
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- China launch plans: 80% of developers plan to launch a current or future title in China within the next two years; 30% of respondents had already released a title to the region.
- Opportunities and Hesitations in China: 70% of surveyed executives cite increased unit sales as the biggest opportunity from China distribution while 43% point to partnership barriers as their biggest hesitation, and an equal 43% consider dense legislation and regulatory processes to be the main barrier.
- ISBN Knowledge: Said by 87% of respondents, developers generally understand that an ISBN license is required to bring a game to official China storefronts.
- Local Partners: 45% of respondents believe a local Chinese partner is mandatory for distribution. Another 42% view securing a local partner as helpful, though not mandatory.
- Game Purchasing Habits: 59% of developers believe that Chinese users mainly purchase titles directly from regulated platforms in China like WeGame and Zhengqi Pingtai (Steam China) (which require ISBN licenses). Nearly a third (31%) of developers believe the market is led by players using VPNs to purchase from the international version of Steam, and just 6% believe titles are bought from e-stores as Steam keys.
- What is WeGame? Fewer than half (44%) of respondents accurately identify Tencent's platform as a Chinese storefront for PC games. 27% mistakenly describe the platform as a game publisher, and 22% were unaware of the platform.
- Marketing Blindspots: When asked to rank their #1 marketing channels for China, 31% choose local Chinese platforms while nearly a quarter (24%) favour Google Ads: a platform blocked in the region.