Information Technology / Pan Asia 24 October 2014 Platforms have a new role to play Pan-Asia Mobile Games Sector • Smart devices are fast becoming the primary “screens” through which entertainment content is consumed • After casual games, we highlight “mid-core” RPGs as the next driver of growth in the region’s mobile-game industry • We favour integrated platforms over pure developers; our top picks are Daum Communications, Tencent and Square Enix How do we justify our view? See important disclosures, including any required research certifications, beginning on page 70 Information Technology / Pan Asia 24 October 2014 Platforms have a new role to play Pan-Asia Mobile Games Sector • Smart devices are fast becoming the primary “screens” through which entertainment content is consumed • After casual games, we highlight “mid-core” RPGs as the next driver of growth in the region’s mobile-game industry • We favour integrated platforms over pure developers; our top picks are Daum Communications, Tencent and Square Enix How do we justify our view? the big 3 markets to account for 38% games and other services. We also like of the global game market (including Japan’s Square Enix (Outperform mobile and other games) in 2015. [2]), which should lead the way in meeting the region’s rising demand Mid- to hard-core role-playing for quality RPGs. Thomas Y. Kwon games (RPGs) should spur (82) 2 787 9181 ARPU and extend service cycles. We rate Nexon a Buy (1), as it is
[email protected] We forecast user demand for mid- to focusing on global publishing of hard-core games to rise strongly over blockbuster mobile games, while Satoshi Tanaka 4Q14-2016, driven by improving Bandai Namco (Outperform [2]) is (81) 3 5555 7049
[email protected] service infrastructure, more advanced seeing solid growth from internally devices, and growth in the number of developed IP.