China’s cloud gaming market expected to quadruple in size by 2022 amid 5G push, report says
- China’s cloud gaming market is expected to be worth at least 4 billion yuan (US$565 million) by 2022, according to a report
- However, the industry will have to overcome technical and policy barriers before it is able to achieve its full potential, research firm CNG says
In its 2020 Cloud Game Industry Survey Report, the Beijing-based firm said it expects the country’s cloud gaming market to be worth 1 billion yuan (US$141 million) in 2020 and at least 4 billion yuan by 2022.
“Based on what we can see from financial and material investments in various fields, the next three to five years will be a period of rapid growth for cloud gaming,” CNG said in the report.
However, the industry will have to overcome technical and policy barriers before it is able to achieve its full potential, the research company said.
Cloud gaming, where games are streamed over the internet rather than from a device’s internal memory or removable media such as cartridges or discs, is one of the hottest emerging areas in mobile entertainment.
China hopes cloud gaming will spur demand for 5G
This crucial infrastructure is still in the early stages of construction and it will take time before it will really benefit cloud gaming, CNG said, adding that a lack of profitable business models and government limits on game licenses are also factors that could hinder the growth of the sector.
Still, some of China’s tech giants have already been betting big on the sector, hoping to find new ways to engage the country’s enormous gaming audience – estimated at about 685 million users as of 2019, according to game consultancy firm Niko Partners.
