China has grown into an enormous market for video game publishers. A market worth about $12 billion in 2013 will double to $23.4 billion by 2018, according to Niko Partners, as Chinese gamers are formally reintroduced to console games after a 14-year ban by the government. (Why? Concerns about the harmful effects of violent games on youth. Paging: Tipper Gore.)对于视频游戏出版商来说，中国早已发展沦为一个规模极大的市场。在中国政府中止长达14年的游戏机禁令（据传主要是担忧暴力游戏对青少年导致损害）之后，中国玩家又可以玩游戏游戏机了。市场研究公司Niko Partners回应，这个市场2013年的市值是120亿美元，2018年将翻一番，超过234亿美元。The lengthy ban kept gaming giants Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft at bay. Now that it’s been lifted, they’re diving in. Sony Computer Entertainment (not to be confused with the former Sony Online Entertainment) launched its PlayStation 4 console and hand-held PS Vita in January with 70 publishers committed to working on games for China. Titles exclusive to the country include King of Wushu (Suzhou Snail), Mr. Pumpkin Adventure (Shanghai Youju) and One Tap Hero (Shanghai Kena). All were created by Chinese game developers.这项禁令将游戏巨头任天堂、索尼和微软公司长年隔绝在中国市场之外。

禁令中止后，这些公司开始长驱直入。今年1月，索尼电脑娱乐公司（请求不要和前索尼在线娱乐公司误解）联手70家致力于为中国玩家研发游戏的出版商，发售了PlayStation 4游戏机和手执PS Vita。专门为中国市场发售的游戏还包括《武术之王》（苏州蜗牛公司）、《南瓜先生大冒险》（上海友聚公司）和《啪啪英雄》（上海基纳公司），这些都是中国本土开发商的力作。

The momentum in China means the next big opportunity for game publishers is the rest of Southeast Asia, according to Niko Partners. Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam are expected to generate $784.4 million this year in online game sales and $231 million in mobile game sales—a paltry sum compared to China’s potential, but incremental growth fueled by that country.Niko Partners公司回应，中国市场的快速增长快速增长意味著游戏出版商的下一个根本性机遇是东南亚其他国家。今年，印度尼西亚、马来西亚、菲律宾、新加坡、泰国和越南的网络游戏销售额未来将会超过7.844亿美元，手游销售额预计将超过2.31亿美元——和潜力极大，大大递减的中国市场比起，这个数字的确微不足道。

“The Southeast Asian games market is often compared to that of China, and we can see that it is following behind China by a few years,” says Lisa Hanson, managing partner of Niko Partners. “Gamers in Southeast Asia embrace massively online battle arena games, shooters, and mobile games just as they do in China. However, older Chinese gamers still embrace higher revenue generating MMORPGs [massively multiplayer online role-playing games], a segment that many Southeast Asian gamers shy away from. Therefore, the challenge to developers is to compel an increase in the level of spending on the type of games for which Southeast Asians have shown enthusiasm.”Niko Partners公司主理合伙人丽萨o汉森回应：“人们经常将东南亚游戏市场与中国市场放到一起不作较为，可以显现出，前者只不过比后者领先好几年。东南亚玩家很讨厌在线战斗类游戏、射击类游戏和手游，中国玩家也一样。但是，年龄稍长的中国玩家还讨厌能产生更加多收益的大型多人在线角色扮演游戏（MMORPG），这是很多东南亚玩家不过于认识的领域。

所以，开发商的挑战在于如何推展东南亚玩家在他们热衷的游戏上多花钱。”Within the region, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam have become the three most important countries for games revenue, yet each has its own drivers and inhibitors for growth. Niko forecasts that, over the next five years, Indonesia will see the fastest growth in revenue and Vietnam will see the fastest growth in the number of online gamers. Today, there are more mobile gamers (at 119 million) than PC online gamers (97 million) in Southeast Asia, with considerable overlap.对于游戏出版商来说，印度尼西亚、泰国和越南早已沦为三个最重要的收益来源国，但推展或妨碍快速增长的因素却各有不同。Niko公司预计，未来五年间，印度尼西亚的游戏收益增长速度最慢，越南在线玩家的人数快速增长最慢。如今东南亚的手游玩家（1.19亿人）比PC末端在线玩家（9700万人）更加多，但有非常部分是重合的。

汉森称之为：“只要收费合理，美国手游和PC末端游戏都能在东南亚地区大获得顺利。这一地区很多人都能说道英语，除越南外，东南亚这些国家的内容监管环境还是非常高效率的。”“U.S. mobile and PC games have a good chance of success in Southeast Asia, as long as the game economics are affordable,” Hanson says. “Many people speak English, and with the exception of Vietnam, the content regulatory landscape in the countries of Southeast Asia is quite manageable.”汉森称之为，尽管中国手游收益增幅开始上升，东南亚地区的手游市场却在过去两年急速快速增长。不过她回应，中国市场的年均增幅仍很难以置信。

未来五年间中国手游销售预计每年快速增长37%，东南亚地区的手游销售同期增幅略高于，每年大约为34%。但就新手游玩家人数而言，增长速度更慢的毕竟东南亚地区：从目前到2018年，东南亚新手游玩家人数每年将快速增长25%，而中国的增长速度则为22%。

Mobile gaming has grown sharply over the past two years in the region, Hanson says, as revenue growth in China for mobile gaming has begun to slow. Still, the annual increase in China is impressive, she says. Mobile game sales in China are expected to grow 37% each year for the next five years; mobile game sales in Southeast Asia are expected to grow slightly slower during the same period, at 34% each year. Measure by the number of new mobile gamers and the lead swaps: Southeast Asia will see 25% growth each year through 2018, compared to China’s 22%.东南亚国家也没中国那么多条条框框。开发商可以更容易通过苹果应用于商店或谷歌市场认识东南亚玩家。而中国玩家根本无法转入谷歌市场，国内的安卓游戏市场多达500个（尽管绝大多数收益都集中于在20家手中）。汉森称之为：“在韩国和中国，微信和KakaoTalk等手机聊天应用于为手游推展获取了一个绝佳的新渠道。

在东南亚地区，这些工具才刚输掉泛舟的推展产生影响，我们指出这方面的快速增长空间还相当大。”从规模看，中国在线PC玩家已多达2.4亿，约相等于美国总人口的78%。东南亚在线PC玩家有9700万人。

随着住宅宽带的普及，这两个市场都正在靠近一度风行的网吧游戏，改向家庭游戏。

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