One of the biggest phonemakers in China, Xiaomi has now decided to enter the world of game development. The company is now publishing games under its title which will feature on its Android phones and tablets.
Reported by TechinAsia, the company now has a few games under its title which have a ‘Mi’ logo on the game icon which confirms that it’s a Xiaomi title. The company right now has Xiaomi Poker, Song of Knights, and Clash of Kings under its game publishing title and are free to download and play but they do come with in-app purchases.
Xiaomi already has its own app store in China and supports in-app-purchases through its virtual currency Mi Credits which is one of the crucial source of income for the company. With Mi Credits, users buy themes, apps, in-app-purchases on its store connecting their Mi accounts to credit cards or bank. Xiaomi takes a part of the transaction happening on its store but wants more control on the apps and games where in they can gain more out of the said game or app.
Android’s very own app market Google Play and other Google services have been blocked in China since 2014, but before its services were banned, official Android store never picked up in China, and the android users were using a variety of homegrown Chinese app stores with the local content available. But most of those alternative stores don’t offer developers the chance to charge for content. Xiaomi’s App Store and accompanying virtual currency are one of very few ways that developers can make money from China’s gamers. That’s why most resort to advertising or cross-app promotions – even though very few gamers click.
China has been a huge market for the game developers and already has highest number of smartphone users in the world. The market is currently flooded with Chinese developers and their games and a very few western game developers have broken the stronghold in the region.