The latest report from App Annie reveals that revenue from China iOS App Store kept robust throughout Q1 2016, and surpassed Japan for the very first time. The remarkable increase in revenue makes China iOS App Store the second largest revenue generator, which is estimated to surpass the US iOS App Store very soon.
Going through a long period of growth, China’s iOS revenue leapt nearly 2.2 times in Q1 2016 compared to Q1 2015, and no slow-down trend shown.
Top 3 Countries by Quarterly iOS App Store Indexed Revenue (App Annie 2016)
“China leapt ahead of Japan on the revenue rankings thanks to its legions of mobile gamers.” According to App Annie. A large portion of the growth came from MMORPG in-game purchases.
Top 3 Countries by Quarterly iOS App Store Games Indexed Revenue (App Annie 2016)
Currently, the results of the three top market players, the US, China, and Japan, are not very distant from each other. Estimators expect to see another leap of China’s iOS revenue to surpass the US in 2017.
I personally feel very positive about this trend. In fact, I am glad to see this as an improvement of the overall environment in the China game market, as China once was one of the countries with the most severe issue of piracy. Game developers in China or those getting into the China market had a very tough time running their products during those days. You can read more about the growing population of gamers playing non-pirated games in China here.