Headlines From China: Gaming, the ACG Community, and Virtual Idols

Gaming, the ACG Community, and Virtual Idols

Globally, gamers have progressed far beyond the old stereotype of shut-ins spending hours glued to their monitors. As gaming goes mainstream, players include members of the crucial higher-income demographics, and brands across the consumer spectrum are taking note. China’s gaming industry brought in $43 billion in revenue in 2020, up nearly 21% from the previous year, with the mobile gaming sector representing more than three-quarters of the total. In its five-part series, Jing Daily looks into the lessons that every brand should learn from the evolution of content commerce in China since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020. Read more Jing Daily

China’s Theater Business Will Keep Growing

Before the pandemic, the research firm Ampere Analysis had projected China to overtake the US by 2022. Now, it expects China to remain the No. 1 market in the world indefinitely, as the US theatrical market slowly recovers from the pandemic. Hollywood is hoping that its blockbusters can roar back to life this summer with the help of China. Experts said “Godzilla vs. Kong’s” performance shows that there is still strong interest in China for Hollywood blockbusters. Gitesh Pandya, the editor of BoxOfficeGuru.com, noted that many of Hollywood’s most anticipated blockbusters that might do serious business in China, like “Fast and Furious 9,” have been postponed to later this year. Read more Business Insider