Top 10 Chinese gaming stories of 2020 as written by me, out of my 188 stories last year.
Happy New Year! In 2020, I profiled miHoYo of Genshin fame, Tencent's Honor of Kings, Chinese game engine Cocos, ByteDance' expansion into games, and Alibaba's breakout year. Here are my top 10.
Happy New Year, team!
First of all, despite all my habitual frustration and anger, I’m grateful for 2020. Everybody in my family has been safe and sound. Friends have showered me with love although I was as neglectful as always. Prior to the lockdowns, I had the fortune to travel to Europe for two weeks. Soon thereafter, I changed teams and was put in a position to write about the big picture gaming business stories like I’ve always wanted to. And in April I met a new friend with who I’m now in a relationship. Stuck in Hong Kong, we’ve hiked to so many scenic parts of the city and even camped at the beach. So I thank this lovely city, one which many consider the amalgamation of New York and Hawaii, for keeping COVID relatively at bay and letting me have my fill of traveling at such an unusual time.
For Kaleland readers, I’m enormously grateful for y’all as well. When I moved away from writing products, reviews, and all the juicy anecdotes of the tech industry, I needed a space in which I can let my voice out and engage in some more authentic writings. Kaleland, despite its awkward-sounding name that impresses embarrassingly few people, was born to be that sanctum for me.
In 2020, I had published 188 stories, or thereabouts, which was fewer than my usual output. Tallying this up brings me back to a time when I thought I would absolutely quit writing and start doing something that pays better after I file my 500th story. Oh boy, how time has flown. I think now my number is pushing 1,500 if it hasn’t already exceeded it.
Anyway, for Kalenland, I think it will be fun and helpful if I curate my favorite gaming stories of 2020. In this issue, I’ll first recap the top stories with my own byline. Some of you may have difficulty accessing these articles as SCMP has rolled out a metered paywall but I’m still hoping that you can get some value here. So bear with me.
My 10 favorite gaming stories in 2020 as written by me:
#1 Honor of Kings profile
OK, some of the eagle-eyed subscribers may quickly point out that this story was actually published on Jan 2, 2021. To that, I say you’re right. But this was a 2020 story written last year. Maybe it is my own recency bias but I do feel strongly about this profile piece on Tencent’s marquee Honor of Kings. My snobbery has led me to detest the many inaccurate HoK explainers out there. I hope this baby here can help clear some of those cobwebs.
#2 miHoYo of Genshin Impact fame profile
Genshin Impact caught many in the West by surprise last year but miHoYo, widely acknowledged among people in the industry even prior to Genshin, had long been chomping at the bit. I wrote almost ad nauseam about Genshin in the past few months. But this profile piece may still be my favorite.
#3 ByteDance’ expansion into gaming
ByteDance’ foray into gaming was one of the biggest stories last year. But what ByteDance quickly found out was that the gaming biz is not a walk in the park. Still, with no sign of abating, ByteDance’ aggressive push into gaming last year appeared to be only the early innings of which can be a tectonic shift to the industry. In 2021, we can anticipate a full-on clash between Tencent and ByteDance in the gaming sector.
#4 Alibaba’s breakout year in gaming
In contrast, Alibaba’s breakout year in games felt largely flown under the radar. I honestly feel alone in covering this for few others had done it in English. Anyway, in the years prior, Alibaba poached NetEase’ former All-Star team by acquiring Ejoy, and it took a few years for Ejoy (which is now effectively Lingxi under Alibaba) to make a splash. That said, Lingxi is a force to be reckoned with. If the Chinese gaming industry was the NBA, Lingxi would be like the Miami Heat. People don’t think of it as much because it appears to an old-guard organization with unglamorous products. But it has such a strong core competitive advantage that it would be a perennial competitor even if it doesn’t get its due respect.
#5 Sony’s PlayStation 5 launch
The best thing about my beat is that I’m in a perpetual state of excitement, excitement for forthcoming great products in particular. Few things in 2020 excited as much as the next-gen consoles. Reporting on PS5’s launch in Hong Kong on camera was definitely one of the best gigs of the year.
#6 Boycotting platform tax
Far less exciting to me was all the business catfights which many fly-by-night China tech watchers seem to have lapped up last year. My aversion to these stories, I think quite reasonably, stems from the very fact that I am myself a tech and gaming geek who loathes fragmentation and gratuitous platform wars. But there was one fight which I think is worthy of wider public scrutiny, and it is the one in which developers are pushing back on platform tax levied by big tech in China and elsewhere in 2020. I’m still formulating my thoughts about China’s recent antitrust campaign. But one thing is for sure: as a Spider-Man stan, I’ve always had a soft spot for the little guys. High platform tax sounds anachronistic for the new decade.
#7 Black Myth: Wukong
I usually caution against getting overly enthused about a game of which only a demo has been shown. And so is the case with Game Science’ Black Myth: Wukong. That said, there is much to be celebrated with the Black Myth: Wukong demo. The anticipation for a full-fledged AAA title coming out of China has been building up over the years, let alone a Soulslike AAA game appearing to have world-class graphical fidelity, the trappings of Chinese mythologies and Soulslike combat mechanics.
#8 A profile on Cocos, the gaming engine
Real-time game engines today look poised to be a fundamental piece to the Metaverse of the future. Much ink has been spilled on Epic’s Unreal Engine because of Sony’s massive investment as well as Unity which has recently gone public and seen its stock go through the roof. Although Cocos is by no means of the same caliber as the aforementioned two, the number of games that it powers on mobile warrants this Xiamen-based company a profile piece.
#9 Call of Duty Mobile
If I’m being frank, this story should be at the top of the list for reason none other than that it has recently been posted Jay Chou, the king of Chinese pop, on Instagram. Nonetheless, Tencent’s Call of Duty: Mobile should be on every China tech observer’s watch list. Its performance outside of China was on pace to surpass PUBG Mobile. Its recent China launch may make it as lucrative for Tencent as PUBG Mobile has been.
#10 Wang Xinwen profile
Last but not least, last year I put together a YouTube video on Lilith Games’ boss Wang Xinwen. It remains part of my plan to document more and more of these emerging figures in China’s fast-growing gaming industry in the coming years. Sometimes the stories of these people will appear here or be told via a YouTube video like this one. That is because sometimes the news format simply doesn’t lend itself to fully depict the wonderful journeys of these colorful characters. When given those stories, I’ll still find ways to tell them. I promise.
https://kaleland.substack.com/p/video-who-is-wang-xinwen-lilith-games
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Before we wrap up, I want to shamelessly plug (as if this entire post is not a shameless plug for myself already) two other non-gaming stories by me last year. But I think y’all will find them no less relevant as they are stories about this very platform that I’m writing on. In the coming year, I have plans to write more of such stories and shedding light on the constantly evolving digital publishing business.
Again, happy 2021, everybody. :)