Digital + publication
Shanghai’s digital publication industry has enjoyed rapid development, with sales of over RMB 75 billion last year, up 14% year on year. Shanghai is home to a 70% share of China’s internet literature market. Currently, China Literature Limited, one of the biggest IP sources in China, has over 0.6 billion registered users and 4 million writers on its books, including 500 platinum-accredited writers. These writers together have produced 10 million works..
Gaming + the Internet
China’s gaming market has achieved actual sales of RMB 203.61 billion in 2017, soaring by 23.0% over the previous year. The number of gamers rose to around 0.58 billion, growing by 3.1% year on year. Gaming companies in Shanghai have made tremendous efforts in game development: the Oriental Pearl Group has accelerated deployment of its gaming business, and listed gaming companies such as YOOZOO Games, Giant Network, and 37 Interactive Entertainment have achieved solid development. Giant Network spent RMB 30.5 billion acquiring the Israeli online gaming company Playtika, a move to further increase its presence in the Asia-Pacific region and overseas markets.
YOOZOO Games completed a EUR 80 million takeover of the European game developer Bigpoint, in the hope of gaining more co-operation opportunities to create top-quality IPs. 37 Interactive Entertainment continued its “Business Nurturing” plan, and spent USD 100 million starting an overseas seed investment foundation, while also investing USD 3.1 million in Archiact, a Canadian company focusing on virtual reality technologies.