CHINA’S self-developed games raked in more than US$18 billion in sales overseas last year, up about 16.6 percent year on year, with markets including the United States, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) contributing over 58 percent of the sales, said a report released by GameLook, a gaming industrial research institute.

Their revenues in the United States, Japan, ROK, also the three traditional giants of the gaming industry, had shown a gradually decreasing tendency in the past three years, while countries and regions such as Chile and Egypt have become China’s major game export destinations.

The phenomenon suggests that China’s gaming industry is constantly exploring emerging markets to expand the breadth and depth of its overseas markets, according to the report.

In the face of diversified overseas demands, Chinese game enterprises no longer just focus on developing medium-heavy strategy games, but look for more possibilities to increase their market share.

King of Avalon, a fantasy-themed game, is the first Chinese-developed game to get the first place in revenue on Apple’s App Store. Since its global launch in 2016, it has won hearts of about 90 million players. Notably, the game has remained among the top 20 bestsellers of countries along the Belt and Road to date.

The game is going global with more and more elements adapted from traditional Chinese culture. It once launched a character “Mulan,” an ancient Chinese heroine in legends, which has drawn much international attention. It plans to roll out more relevant cultural and creative products based on Chinese traditional crafts and intangible cultural heritages in the future. (Xinhua)