By e27.sg | e27
e-Commerge platform Soldgers has partnered with Gamers.PH to provide an auction-type setup for buying and selling game-related gear.
Depending on who you ask, the gaming industry is either on a roll or in doldrums. While traditional game publishers are experiencing a hit-or-miss affair with their console and desktop game releases, smaller game publishers are finding a goldmine in games designed for mobile devices. The clear winners today, of course, are the likes of Candy Crush Saga, which earns something in the likes of US$230 million per year, according to recent estimates (though experts from cloud-computing services we have talked to think it could be making more).
Whether you’re a game developer, avid gamer, or even a simple mobile device user, there’s no question that games have spawned an interesting secondary market that usually involves in-game currency, in-game items and real-world goods. Which is why Singapore-based Soldgers Pte Ltd has partnered with Philippines’ IP Ventures, which owns the biggest gaming company in the Philippines, Gamers.PH.
The partnership will entail an online auction service, through which real-world goods can be acquired for a small fraction of their original price. The bid price is determined by bidders, and items can be purchased with Gamers.PH tokens, which can be bought using various payment methods, including bank deposit, ATM, credit or debit card, PayPal or even cash-on-delivery.
Soldgers notes that the community is user-driven, and the so-called “shopping haven for gamers” will have a pulse for what the market is seeking. “The site is run by gamers, so we know by heart what each kind of gamer looks for. From the hottest game releases, to the best deals, competitive gaming equipment and bundles—it’s definitely a shopping haven for gamers,” said Angeline Tham, one of Soldgers’ co-founders.
The Philippines’ gaming market is an interesting one, particularly for game developers and publishers keen on monetizing their products. For one, only 10 percent of the market are paying users, which account for around 500,000 to 800,000 users. The average revenue per user in this market is about US$3.5 to US$6 per month.
Here are a few interesting figures, according to IP Ventures and Soldgers:
- The Philippines has 30 million Internet users. 15 million are online gamers, while 35 million of this set use Facebook.
- 70 percent of this market access the Internet through public-access terminals at Internet cafes.
- MMORPG games are on the decline; Client-based, web-based and Facebook-based games are on the rise.
- The MMORPG market is still a US$35 million market per year, though, and this revenue is generated from about 5 to 8 million active users per month.
- Meanwhile, the mobile market is a healthy one, with 97 million mobile users against a 95 million population. An estimated 85 percent of the population have mobile subscriptions.
- Smartphone grew to 5 million in volume from 2007 to 2011. This number has grown to 11 million from 2011 to 2012 alone, a 400 percent growth.
- The smartphone penetration is estimated to grow to 60 percent in the next three years. Android devices are estimated to take 80 percent of the smartphone market.
- There are about 100,000 PlayStation 3 consoles, 20,000 Xbox 360 consoles and 500,000 gaming PCs in the country.
- The total console industry in the country is US$25 million per year, with an ARPU of US$60. PC and Xbox games are piracy-ridden, though, ແລະ 80 percent of the market’s revenue comes from the PS3.
- The upcoming release of the PlayStation 4 is seen to accelerate the growth of the console gaming market.
Interestingly enough, according to Soldgers and IP Ventures, there is a gap that exists in this market, particularly in the broadband next-generation VAS provision. “The old ringtone wallpaper VAS market industry has died across the board and most of the app downloads are from iTunes or android market place with no real revenue conversion.”
Games are a growth market, after all. This May, e27 supported the AWS Gaming and Developer meetup in the Philippines, which featured business development manager Patrick Prendergast, where we learned how game development has turned out to be a lucrative business for startups. This is especially helped by the rise of mobile devices. What used to require expensive and specialized equipment with hundreds of dollars in investment in game cartridges or discs are now accessible on smartphone and tablet platforms. What’s even better is that games and apps come in various fee models — this includes free, freemium and paid, and even paid apps cost only upwards of US$0.99 apiece.
Soldgers and Gamers.PH expand on this potential, marrying e-commerce and gaming. Perhaps this could be one way through which game publishers and platform owners can minimize the occurrence of grey- and black-market dealings in in-game content and other real-world goods. In a market that prefers free — to the extent that piracy is considered a preferred option — it pays to offer great-quality inexpensive goods that can be purchased through a convenient platform.
ນີ Soldgers and Gamers.PH see opportunities where gaming meets e-commerce ທີ່ທໍາອິດໃນ E27.