South Korean mobile game developer Gamevil Inc. will likely see its presence
expand in China next year, boosted by its partnership with a Chinese service
provider of a major mobile messenger, company officials said Thursday.
Gamevil, most known for its mobile game "Punch Hero," will provide its games on
QQ mobile messenger run by Tencent Holdings Ltd., China's No. 1 Internet company
by revenue, according to the officials.
Tencent operates two popular
messengers for mobile phones -- QQ and WeChat. QQ is considered to be more
domestically oriented, while WeChat took off successfully outside the home
country.
"The cooperation with Tencent will solidify our position in
the Chinese mobile game market," a Gamevil official said.
In a bid to
attract more game developers to use its platform, Tencent recently said it will
lower channel costs and increase the rate of revenue for developers. Developers
of smartphone games will split revenues 50-50 with Tencent.
Tencent
launched its integrated Mobile QQ Game platform in May 2012. The platform
currently has more than 220 million users.
China's robust demand for
smartphones will also help the company increase its revenue from the world's
most populous country, they said.
China is expected to soon emerge as
the largest smartphone market in the world.
International Data Corp.
said earlier China will account for 26.5 percent of global smartphone shipments
in 2012, followed by the United States with 17.8 percent.
China's
smartphone shipments reached 47 million units in the July-September period,
growing 117 percent on-year and 20 percent on-quarter.