Asian gaming industry will shrug off China’s crackdown and see healthy growth, UBS forecasts
The investment bank sees gaming revenues rising from US$60 billion in 2017 to almost US$200 billion by 2030, despite the impact of tighter regulation in China
Asia’s video games industry will expand by almost 10 per cent annually in spite of tighter regulations hampering growth in China, the world’s largest gaming market, according to UBS.
Beijing moved to restrict approvals for video game licences at the end of August, but a strong gaming culture and the success of existing titles will continue to drive China’s market and help Asia become the biggest market globally for games revenue this year, according to the Swiss investment bank.
“Near-term there are regulatory challenges in China, but for longer term overall industry growth prospects within Asia, we expect gaming revenues to increase from US$60 billion in 2017 to almost US$200 billion by 2030,” said Sundeep Gantori, an equity analyst at UBS CIO Global Wealth Management.
“We are content on long-term growth prospects because Asia, as a region, has a strong culture of gaming, not just in China but across Japan and Korea.”
The industry in the region will grow at an average annual rate of 9.5 per cent, UBS predicted in a report Gantori was referring to.
“We are not super bullish, it is conservative given the regulations,” added Gantori, who was speaking in a media briefing at the UBS Disruptive Technology Summit in Hong Kong on Tuesday.