Reporter | Xiaofang
Editor | Wenshuqi
A large number of Chinese enterprises are gaining new growth opportunities in Russia.
After Russia faced economic sanctions in 2022, many European and American brands withdrew, reshuffling the market. Chinese brands in fields such as gaming, clothing, automobiles, home appliances, and mobile phones filled this market gap, gaining new growth opportunities. According to statistics from Russian data analysis agencies, by 2024, sales of Chinese cars in Russia increased by 80% year-on-year, and the market share of Chinese smartphones reached 89%.
Ilya Marin, Global Business Development Director of Yandex Ads, Russia's largest search engine advertising platform, told Jiemian News that in 2024, China has become the region with the largest scale of customers outside Russian-speaking countries for Yandex Ads, with customer numbers doubling and a year-on-year growth rate of 57%.
Among the numerous Chinese companies going global to Russia, the growth of gaming companies is particularly noticeable. Ilyas Yuksin, General Manager of Yandex Ads' Asia-Pacific region, told Jiemian News that among Yandex Ads' Chinese clients, gaming clients have risen to the top position in terms of scale.
Data released by RuStore, Russia's largest Android app store, shows that among the applications developed by Chinese developers in Russia, games generate the highest revenue. Among the top 10 highest-grossing applications in the RuStore app store, more than 60% of the games are developed by Chinese companies. Previously, Dmitry Pankrushin, CEO of RuStore, revealed in an interview with local media that 50% of the games released on their platform each month come from Chinese game developers.
The explosive growth of Chinese game companies in Russia is also directly related to the withdrawal of Western capital from Russia. For example, global game giants like Activision Blizzard and Epic Games suspended the release of new games in Russia due to payment disruptions caused by economic sanctions.
This market vacuum left by these globally renowned companies has also been filled by Chinese companies. For instance, Camel Games' strategy game Age of Origins ranks high in download volume in the Russian market; Tencent's PUBG Mobile once reached a weekly revenue peak of $425,000 in Russia last year. Overall, companies such as ZeniMax, FunPlus, and im30.net lead the income rankings.
The high-quality storylines, rich gameplay, and social functions of Chinese games are the main reasons for their popularity in the Russian market.
However, not all game companies have experienced unexpected growth. The common challenges faced by Chinese game companies include localization, traffic exposure, and payment issues, with smaller companies facing these challenges more prominently. For example, compared to Russian, Chinese grammar is simpler, making it difficult to accurately translate commonly used short phrases without context. Some Chinese-style game character names are hard for Russian users to understand; due to economic sanctions, traditional payment channels have been obstructed, posing payment difficulties for Chinese game companies in Russia as well.
According to Jiemian News from multiple game developers, some early Chinese game companies that went overseas to Russia have undergone a difficult localization journey, especially narrative games, where bridging the gap with users through translation is crucial.
Facing these challenges encountered by Chinese game companies, Yandex Ads sees business opportunities. Ilyas Yuksin stated that the interest of Russian players in Chinese games makes this market still have enormous growth potential, and companies already in the market continue to increase their advertising investments. Key factors to consider during localization include cultural differences and legal particularities.
To address these issues, Yandex Ads recently launched two solutions: Easy Monetization and Yandex Pay SDK, enabling Chinese publishers to access quality international demand, optimize their advertising revenue potential, and help them maximize their earnings.
Predictive data from Sensor Tower shows that by 2025, Russia’s dual-end (Android and iOS) game downloads could reach 4.345 billion times, with over 40 million paid users on the Android end of the Russian market. It can be foreseen that under a more convenient payment environment, Chinese game companies will experience explosive revenue growth in Russia.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7497141405261890058/
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