Report: mobile games revenue to overtake PC games revenue in Southeast Asia by 2018

A study by market researcher firm Niko Partners has found that mobile games revenue is expected to pass PC games revenue in Southeast Asia in 2018.

The outfit surveyed 1,500 games online and also interviewed industry executives in the region before adding their own market data and insights. The revenue in the area is expected to top $1.8 billion by 2020, as the report shows that mobile games revenue will increase by a compound annual growth rate of 25% which means the predicted growth goes from $587m in 2015 to $1.8b in 2020.

Niko Partners have picked out Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia as the growing markets to watch over the next few years. Thailand was picked up in particular for its "hardcore" base of gamers, those who admit to playing 21 hours a week playing games.

Lisa Cosmas Hanson, Managing Partner of Niko Partners said in a statement: "Gamers in many of the Southeast Asian countries that we track are restricted by lower disposable income, and that makes local parity pricing important for foreign game developers to acquire greater numbers of users who can afford to play their games."