1.     Zynga acquisition by Take-Two now completed

THE US$12.7B ACQUSITION IS COMPLETE ON 23rd MAY

• The US$12.7 billion acquisition of Zynga by Take-Two has been officially completed, in line with the company's predictions following the latter's most recent earning report
• The completion cements the acquisition of Zynga as the second largest video games acquisition in the history of the industry – perhaps a reasonable price for one of the most successful mobile games companies, which recently reported US$691 million revenue in Q1 2022

2.     NetEase Net revenues were RMB23.6B (US$3.7B), oversea revenue accounted for 10%+

GOAL IS TO MAKE EVERYGAME AS A GLOBAL PUBLISHING GAME

• Revenue

1. Total Revenue: US$3.7B, +15% YoY
2. Game Revenue: US$2.7B, +15% YoY
3. Oversea game revenue accounted for more than 10% of total, goal is to reach 40-50% in the near future with IP based games & Crossplatform games to build each game into global games

• Game Highlights

1. Delivered strong performances from longstanding flagship titles including Fantasy Westward Journey Online and New Westward Journey Online II, and maintained popularity of other hit titles including LifeAfter and Sky
2. Announced 2022 launch date for Diablo® Immortal™, co-developed by NetEase and Blizzard Entertainment, slated for global market release on June 2 and release in China and Southeast Asia on June 23
3. Launched new games in Japan in April: Revelation mobile game, The Lord of the Rings: Rise to War and Dead by Daylight Mobile - NetEase, capturing wide interest from game players
4. Propelled pipeline by advancing new games under development including console and mobile versions of Naraka: Bladepoint and Ghost World Chronicle, as well as the roll-out of Harry Potter: Magic Awakened in international markets

3.     Embracer Group exceeds 1B euros in turnover, but records big losses(US$431M) 

STAFF NUMBER REACHED 12,000 PEOPLE, DEVELOPING 223 GAMES IN THE SAME TIME

•  Embracer group has grown from 6,325 employees (including 5,115 developers) to 12,760 employees (including 8,586 developers) and its turnover exceeded one billion euros for the first time
• Inevitably, with these costly acquisitions, operating expenses exploded, reaching 2.27 billion euros and resulting in an annual loss of approximately 409 million euros
• Embracer plans to release around 25 3A games by March 2026, out of a total of 223 projects in progress (including 159 which have not yet been unveiled)
• Embracer says the top contributors in Q4 (January-March 2022) were Metro Exodus, SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated, Wreckfest, Biomutant, Deep Rock Galactic, Valheim, Satisfactory , Goat Simulator and Hot Wheels Unleashed. The firm is also pleased with the successful launch of Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, which achieved a turnover of $83.9 million in seven days

4.     Alibaba posts record-low quarterly growth since 2014 

ANOTHER TECH GIANT SUFFERED A BAD QUARTER

• Alibaba Group‘s revenue hit US$32.18 billion in the fourth quarter of the financial year ended (FYE) March 2022, marking a 9% increase compared to the same period a year ago even as macro challenges continue to plague the Chinese ecommerce major
• This was also the slowest quarterly growth for the company since its US listing in 2014
• Alibaba recently invested US$378 million in Lazada, its Southeast Asian ecommerce arm Lazada
• Considering the uncertainties arising from the Covid-19 pandemic, Alibaba did not give guidance for FYE 2023

5.     Tencent boss expresses discontent over China’s zero-Covid policy

WILL PONY MA FOLLOW THE FATE OF MA YUN

•  Pony Ma, co-founder and CEO of Hong Kong-listed Tencent, has voiced his frustration over China’s strict zero-Covid controls, which might have affected the company’s financials
• In an unusual move, Ma shared on his WeChat feed a viral opinion piece dissecting the economic costs of the zero-Covid measures while calling out Chinese internet users for dismissing the economic crisis
• Leading Chinese officials have issued a strong warning against any criticism of its zero-Covid strategy, which the World Health Organization deems unsustainable

6.     In the week after the release of Apex Legends Mobile earned almost US$ 5 million

JOINED THE INTENSE COMPETITION OF SHOOTING GENRE WITH PUBG, FREE FIRE,KNIVES OUT

•  According to analytical firm Sensor Tower, Apex Legends Mobile's revenue for the week is US$ 4.8 million; which also means that the game’s first-week revenue has reached US$6.857 million
• US market brought in the most revenue - 44% (US$ 2.1 million) of total revenue, followed by Japan & Thailand
• Apex Mobile Games still ranks first in the free list of iOS games in 49 countries including the United States and Japan, and has also entered the top 20 best-selling iOS games in 40 countries

7.     data.ai: Gaming Spotlight 2022

THE MOBILE GAME WILL GROW 1.7 TIMES FASTER THAN THE OVERALL MARKET GROWTH

• Global Game Market size: Total of US$222B in 2022

1. Mobile: US$136B; The console and mobile experience is also merging; mobile devices are now capable of offering console-like graphics and gameplay experiences along with cross-platform competitive and social gaming features
2. PC: US$40B
3. Home console: US$42B
4. Handheld Console: US$4B

• APAC Saw the Biggest Growth in Mobile Games Spending

1. China led growth for the gain in market share
2. North America and Western Europe still make up around half of mobile gaming spend in Q1 2022, but its market share has levelled as other regions have caught up
3. Brazil and Saudi Arabia led growth in rest of world for mobile consumer spend

• Weekly Mobile Game Downloads & Consumer Spend Saw Dip in Eastern Europe due to the war

1. Russia’s Regional Share In Consumer Spend Dropped from 50% to 10% From February 2022

• Game Genre Trend

1. Core Games Still Dominate, But Shifting Player Preferences Gave Way to Emerging Game Genres on Mobile
2. On Mobile, genre preferences are more varied
3. Cross-play features are becoming increasingly prominent in the top games
4. 4x March-Battle Strategy Games Emerged as the Most Monetizable Genre for Mobile Games, While Open World RPG Saw the Biggest Rise in Consumer Spend Market Share

8.      China’s top court pushes for blockchain in judicial system

BLOCKCHAIN REGULATIONS

• The Supreme People’s Court of China has proposed the use of blockchain tech to establish cross-chain collaborations between courts, law enforcement, and regulators by 2025
• The court said that blockchain can help judicial systems with the verification and sharing of over 2.2 billion pieces of judicial certificates
• The proposal comes amid China’s plan to roll out a state-backed blockchain infrastructure project

9.     Apple AR, VR Headset Rumors: 2022 Release, M1 Chip and More

THE COMPETITION BETWEEN APPLE AND META

•  Apple has been integrating augmented reality into its devices for years, but a new report from Bloomberg suggests the tech giant will soon make its biggest AR/VR stride yet: producing a mixed-reality headset. In a meeting last week, the company's board of directors observed a demonstration of the headset, according to the report
• Apple could blend AR and VR with two headsets in the near future, leading the way with some sort of high-end AR/VR headset more like an advanced Quest 2