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Daniel Ahmad Profile picture
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12 Nov, 4 tweets, 2 min read
Not surprising to see PUBG Corp take this route.

PUBG Mobile was the #1 grossing mobile game in India, and its ban was felt by both the developers and players.

This new custom version will aim to satisfy regulators, but it remains to be seen if this will be enough.
I put together a thread on this topic a couple of days back with my thoughts on how this would all play out.

PUBG Mobile is still technically banned. Indian regulators would either need to overturn it, or simply allow this custom version to launch.

The ironic aspect is that India banned the game for its affiliation with Tencent / China

Yet this custom ver. of the game is clearly the China version from Tencent

Green blood? Virtual training ground? Limits on playtime?

Yep, that's the China version

If Indian regulators agree to the following and allow PUBG Mobile to relaunch,

1) PUBG Corp taking over publishing duties
2) Data being stored in India by Azure

It can open the door for other Chinese apps, like TikTok to do the same.

Will be interesting to follow.

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More from @ZhugeEX

Daniel Ahmad Profile picture
13 Nov
Here is the most important part of the Xbox Series X|S launch PR:

"70% of Series X|S consoles are attached to new and existing Xbox Game Pass members"

This is Microsoft's goal with Series X|S, to drive Game Pass subscriptions and generate recurring revenue.

Quick thread 1/
2/ Gaming subscriptions are driving growth on top of traditional spend, not just on Xbox, but on all console platforms. Increases LTV of a console owner.

With PlayStation, over 50% of PS4 owners had signed up to or already had a PS+ subscription in the first few months.
3/ PlayStation has been able to maintain this over 7 years, with 43% of the 107m active PS4 users having a PS+ subscription today.

Nintendo has been able to do the same, releasing Nintendo Online in 2018, which now has ~40% of Switch owners subscribed to the service.
Read 10 tweets
Daniel Ahmad Profile picture
13 Nov
Let's talk about a controversial topic in the world of video games.

Chinese games dev Paper Games just shut down its game, Shining Nikki, in Korea after controversy erupted between Chinese and Korean players.

This thread is about how Chinese companies view game exports.

1/
It's no secret that China has a strict regulatory environment for games. There are restrictions that developers have to impose on their own games in order to release them in China.

The most recent example being in Genshin Impact:

This is a top down approach to game censorship, but it's worth noting that there is also a bottom up approach too

Which is to say Chinese game companies also self censor themselves + Chinese players may demand changes

Changes are made pre-emptively, due to the top down approach
Read 12 tweets
Daniel Ahmad Profile picture
12 Nov
With the PS5 launching in select markets today, I thought I’d do a quick thread with my thoughts on PS5 and PlayStation’s overall strategy going forward.

This is from my pov as an analyst.

1/ Image
Sony is focusing on 3 key areas this gen:

Premium hardware at an affordable price
Exclusive content from first party & partners
Network services + Ecosystem

The PS5 is very much the center of the PlayStation ecosystem, with network services helping to bridge a smooth transition
The PS5 very much feels like a next gen console and has the innovation to match

DualSense increases the immersion of playing games

Custom SSD enables faster load times & unique game design

Its dual SKU strategy doesn’t compromise on power

The new UI feels snappy & responsive
Read 22 tweets
Daniel Ahmad Profile picture
11 Nov
Among Us continues to grow in popularity worldwide, now surpassing 217m installs on mobile.

It's not easy to play the game in China though, as it does not have a Simplified Chinese localisation / local servers.

So what can Chinese gamers do? 1/

venturebeat.com/2020/11/09/sen…
2/ It's worth noting that the game does not have an official license to operate in China. China is a complicated market where video games are regulated heavily.

Achieving an official release requires working with a Chinese publisher and gaining approval from regulators.
3/ China is a country of 685 million gamers that spent over $33 billion on games last year. Players have diverse tastes and actively seek out new and fun experiences.

Whether a game has an official release or no localisation at all, Chinese gamers will discover and play them.
Read 11 tweets
Daniel Ahmad Profile picture
10 Nov
PUBG Corp's partnership with Microsoft to host PUBG and PUBG Mobile on Azure has led to speculation that the company made the move so that it can re-enter the India market, where the game was banned earlier this year

Going to do a quick thread on this 1/

techcrunch.com/2020/11/05/pub…
In case you missed this article I wrote, India has banned a number of Chinese published mobile games due to rising tensions between the two countries and potential national security issues.

PUBG Mobile was banned because Tencent is the dev and publisher.

nikopartners.com/indias-ban-of-…
Even with Tencent moving its servers / data to India, the game was still banned by the govt due to its Chinese affiliation.

As I noted at the time, the game was #1 in India by downloads / revenue. The the ban was a huge blow to both Tencent / PUBG Corp

Read 9 tweets
Daniel Ahmad Profile picture
10 Nov
I've had the Xbox Series X for over 3 weeks now, and with the Xbox Series X|S launching today, I wanted to share some quick thoughts and previous twitter threads i've done regarding Xbox's future strategy.

Primarily from my POV as an analyst.

My key takeaway is that the console has a very premium and polished feel to it. From the design of the console to the UI and software

It's launching in a more complete state than the Xbox One did and is bolstered by new technology & innovations to improve the overall experience
Quick resume is indeed impressive.

After finishing Tell Me Why Ch1 I was able to instantly jump into Forza to complete a few races, then jump back to Tell Me Why after Ch2 finished downloading, with each transition taking just a few seconds.

No need to quit / restart games.
Read 11 tweets

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