In the video below, Motley Fool portfolio manager David Meier and managing editor Eric Bleeker discuss tech events over the past week.
In 2005, Activision Blizzard's World of Warcraft was launched in China and became a huge hit. Activision's success licensing the game is one of the stronger examples of a Western game coming into China and seeing its addictive gameplay take hold in a new market. Investors in Candy Crush creator King Digital (KING.DL) were excited after the company announced a partnership to bring Candy Crush to Tencent's fast growing WeChat messaging platform.
Yet, as Eric notes in the video below, gaming tastes in China often differ from those in America. China itself has a vibrant game industry, with several publicly traded companies that have appealed to local tastes for over a decade. On charts that list top-selling iOS apps across different countries, most Western European countries and America have either Supercell's Clash of Clans or Candy Crush leading app sales charts. Looking at countries like Japan, South Korea, and China, sales leaders are games created by local companies. Neither Candy Crush nor Clash of Clans rank in the top five in any three of those markets.
The point being that it's important to look into local app tastes before getting too excited about a launch into a big market. Perhaps Candy Crush will fare better on WeChat compared to its performance on other Chinese app stores, but its success is far from a foregone conclusion.
To see Eric and David's thoughts, watch the video below.
