1.    Unity merges with IronSource

• Unity announced that it’s entered into an agreement with IronSource. The latter will merge with Unity and become a wholly-owned subsidiary
• Unity shareholders will own 73.5% of the combined company, while IronSource shareholders will own 26.5%
• Unity’s game engine, ad platform and gaming services will merge with IronSource’s mediation, publishing and monetization solutions
• Both companies needed this merger to compete with ad juggernauts like Google, Meta, TikTok and AppLovin

2.    Alibaba to lay off over 30% of investment team, China Tech crack down continues

• Alibaba Group is downsizing its internal investment team by over 30% as China’s regulatory clampdown puts deal-making processes in the slow lane
• This means that the strategic deals team, which has more than 110 members, will be trimmed to around 70. The layoffs will mostly affect mid-level and senior staff based in mainland China
• Tencent, is also set to dismiss thousands of staff. Chinese regulators recently fined Alibaba and Tencent, among other firms, for failing to comply with anti-monopoly rules on the disclosure of transactions

3.    37 games expects a net profit of US$251 Million in H1' 22, an increase of 99.13% YoY, and a YoY increase of 40% overseas

• Q2’ 22 of 37 games is expected to reach US$139 Million, an increase of 27.56% YoY
• The growth will thank to the performance of Soul Land IP Games and Archangel of Glory which all launched in 2021
• Overseas market revenue is expected to increase by more than 40% YoY,  and the company's overseas income proportion continues to increase

4.    The Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils 2 great peformance in Singapore & Malaysia, Chine version still waiting for license

• The new UE5 MMOPRG The Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils 2 is developed by Perfect Word and published by EFUN
• Up to date, the game ranked 2nd in Malaysia and 5th in Singapore in the Grossing list
• In China Market, the game haven’t got the game license to publish in China Market
• Even with the great competition in South Korea, Genshin Impact can enter the Korean bestseller list whenever there is a major version update. In H1’ 22, it topped iOS Top grossing list three times in South Korea
• Tencent is the investor of South Korean game companies: Kakao games, Netmarble, Krafton
• If successfully approved to join, Chinese Publishers will also win more opportunities to deeply participate in the Korean game industry, which will also help more Chinese companies to develop in the Korean market in the future

5.    Tencent & miHoYo applied to join the Korean Game Industry Association

• The application shows both companies' willingness to see South Korea as the main game market in the future
• Cognosphere Korea is a branch company established in Korea by Cognosphere, a subsidiary of miHoYo in Singapore. Currently in South Korea, this company provides operating services for “Genshin Impact” and “Honkai 3” developed by miHoYo

6.    67 games received game licenses in Jul' 22 in China, Tencent Netease has not received a version number for one year

• 64 of the list of the games are mobile games
• There are many small and medium-sized enterprises with a team size of less than 10-50 people, same as june and may
• Nuverse’s 3D Action Waifu CoA, Yoozoo’s Watern Art Style SLG game Infinity kingdom, Longtu’s Idle I am MT: Return etc
• Chinese gaming stocks jump after Beijing approves new titles in a sign scrutiny is easing
• Shares of Bilibili and other Chinese gaming companies rose Wednesday after regulators approved a slew of new games
• Chinese regulators have approved three batches of games since April, a sign that the crackdown on the gaming sector may be easing

7.    BLACKPINK to hold PUBG Mobile’s first in-game concert

• In what PUBG Mobile is calling its most ambitious partnership to date, K-pop band PLACKPINK will be holding the platform’s first in-game concert
• The concert will launch as part of Version 2.1 of the title
• Titled The Virtual, the concert will be held on July 22-23 and July 29-30 in North and South America, and July 23-24 and July 30-31 across the rest of the world
• At the concert, the band will also debut their new track and the accompanying music video
• Recently, the Black Eyed Peas pre-released their latest single through Space Ape Games' Beatstar
• Since the COVID-19 pandemic made holding traditional concerts impossible, virtual concerts grew in popularity, with artists such as Diplo, BTS, and Ariana Grande holding concerts on Fortnite

8.    Gamescom line-up includes Xbox, Ubisoft, Tencent, 2K Games, and more

• The event is set to run from Tuesday, August 23 to Sunday, August 28, marking the first time the world's biggest games show has been held at a physical location since 2019
• Key names in the final line-up including Ubisoft, Warner Bros, Sega, 2K Games and Bandai Namco, PUBG developer publisher Krafton, Tencent's new publishing label Level Infinite, and Genshin Impact firm HoYoverse (also known as MiHoYo), Netease Games, Blizzard, Konami and Square Enix
• Both Nintendo and PlayStation have previously announced they will not be attending

9.    Oversea Version of Honor of Kings had a CB test in Mexico

• The Global version of HoK is almost identical to Chinese version but is quite different from "Arena of Valor"
• In terms of hero lineup, Global version is consistent with Chinese version and there is no DC superhero character in "Arena of Valor", such as Batman, Joker, etc
• The Global version is consistent with Chinese version in terms of UI design and gameplay
• All the hero names in the global version are Chinese pinyin,

10. Redlab Games – Kakao Games invests in local startup working on Play To Earn MMORPG

• Redlab Games was first founded last year by its CEO, who previously held executive roles in major companies such as Smilegate, Ntreev, Neowiz, and Blue Potion Games (EOS Red developer)
• One of the caveat of the deal is for Project R to launch on BORA Portal, a blockchain and NFT platform which ArcheWorld is also on

11. Global Revenue Ranking of Chinese Mobile Game Publishers in June 2022

• A total of 38 Chinese vendors were listed in the TOP 100 global mobile game publishers' revenue list this month, drawing a combined total of over US$2 Billion accounting for nearly 40% of the global TOP 100 mobile game publishers' revenue
• Tencent & Netease & miHoYo ranked as Top 1,2,3
• The space-themed SLG game Infinite Lagrange has set a new revenue record after 9 months on the market with a 163% revenue growth in June, it ranked 8th on China's IOS mobile game revenue list, making it the 2nd highest-grossing mobile game of NetEase in June
• Genshin Impact’s mobile revenues up 56% in June, and HoYoverse’s revenues up 42% accordingly
• Lingxi Games’ Fantasy of the Three Kingdoms launched in early April in Japan, saw a further record revenue growth of 28% for this month, Lingxi game ranked 6th in the list
• Final Gear has become the highest-grossing mobile game of BiliBili Games in June; Bilibili ranked as 23rd in the list

12. Israeli gaming industry reached US$8.6 billion in revenue in 2021, an increase of 760% in 5 years

• Israeli gaming industry

1. Game market sizing reached US$8.6 billion in revenue in 2021, an average yearly growth of 54%
2. Israel is home to some 190 gaming companies with around 14,000 employees, a 250% increase fro2017, In addition, there has been an 11% growth in the number of companies during this time frame
3. Israeli industry revenues accounted for 5% of global industry revenues in 2021 (US$175 billion)
4. 80% of population is online

• Mobile is the King

1. Mobile is the most popular platform in Israel, with social and casual being the leading investment categories
2. Mobile Installs increased from 8.6% in January 2020 to 18.5% in April 2021, while IAPs increased from 7.95% in January 2020 to a peak of 18.07%a year later
3. The relative speed and earning potential of mobile games, especially in genres where Israeli companies can utilize their expertise in data analytics, therefore makes mobile a more appealing choice

• Challenge

1. A scarcity of specialized gaming programmers in universities and the difficulty faced by foreign workers hoping to emigrate to Israel means that there is a lack of local talent in the industry – notably, the country has no triple-A studios
2. Lack of global investment and the demand for quick turnover and fast return of investment
3. Government funding is also a notable barrier, at present, the Israeli government offers no grants for gaming development, claiming that the Israeli Innovation Authority lacks expertise in the gaming industry

13. Sensor Tower: Mobile games earned US$41.2 Billion globally during H1 2022

• Global App

1. Spending Reached $65 Billion in the First Half of 2022, Up About 1% YoY

• Worldwide player spending in mobile games

1. reached US$41.2 billion in 1H22, down 6.6% Y/Y from $44.1 billion
2. Both Apple’s App Store and Google Play saw a downturn in spending, though the decrease was more marked on Google’s marketplace
3. Tencent’s Honor of Kings and PUBG Mobile, including Chinese localization Game for Peace/Peacekeeper Elite, were once again top grossing mobile games in 1H22 at No. 1 and 2, respectively
4. Honor of Kings saw US$1.4 billion in consumer spending in the first half of the year, while PUBG Mobile generated approximately US$1.1 billion
5. Coming in at No. 3 was miHoYo’s Genshin Impact, which nearly hit the one-billion mark with $986.2 million in consumer spending

• Worldwide mobile games downloads

1. Mobile games reached about 28.1 billion downloads globally, up 0.4% Y/Y from 28 billion in 1H21
2. Subway Surfers leapt to No. 1 , Garena Free Fire with 147.2 million at No. 2. Ludo King took the No. 3 spot with 87.7 million downloads

14.A xie Infinity sales bounce back after US$620m hack

• Axie Infinity is seeing a return of users, with NFT sales tripling after a recent US$620 million hack prompted it to pause the operations of its Ethereum sidechain Ronin Bridge.
• Sky Mavis’s  daily sales of Axies had reached 22,000 earlier this month, an over 3x surge from 7,000 a few weeks prior
• Though the increase in sales makes Axie Infinity the 18th highest-selling NFT project in the past week, the game has reportedly been on a downward trend since late 2021, with lower trading volumes and the game’s token seeing sharp drops in value

15. Animoca Brands completes US$75M raise at US$5.9B valuation to invest in blockchain games

• Animoca Brands said it completed the second phase of a US$75.3 million funding round from earlier this year that valued the company at US$5.9 billion.
• The blockchain game company will use the funds to invest in more games and advance the vision for the “open metaverse.”

16.Tencent News retires NFT trading platform

• Tencent News has shut down its NFT trading feature shortly after the Chinese government outlawed private transactions after purchase
• Former Tencent News head Wang Shimu has moved to Tencent Platform & Content Group (PCG), which manages other platforms such as Magic Core, an NFT trading firm
• Magic Core is also reportedly in trouble and faces lagging sales, with many of its limited releases remaining unsold
• China banned on the sale of cryptocurrency, but NFT trading in the country remains legal. Due to this stigma, companies in the country have relabeled the assets as “digital collectibles.”