According to the latest report jointly released by Google, Temasek and Bain&Company, the digital economy in Southeast Asia has been developing against the trend of the COVID-19. The scale of the digital economy market in Southeast Asia will reach 174 billion US dollars in 2021, and is expected to exceed 360 billion US dollars in 2025; It is expected to reach US $1 trillion by 2030.
In addition, the IMF has predicted that the GDP growth rate of Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia will exceed that of most countries in the world from 2022 to 2024. In this sense, let’s quickly understand the Philippine market, games, game publishers and payment methods to grasp the development trend of mobile game industry.
Philippines’ Market Status quo Overview
The Philippines has a land area of 299700 square kilometers and a total population of about 108 million, ranking 12th in the world. In 2019, the gross domestic product (GDP) was about 330.9 billion dollars and the per capita GDP was about 3000 dollars. Due to the large gap between the rich and the poor in the Philippines, the per capita GDP is not high, about US $3000. Since 1996, the country has been listed as a low – and middle-income economy.
60% of the population of the Philippines is Internet users, and the Philippines is also one of the youngest countries, with more than 60% of the young population over the age of 16. Among Internet users, nearly 90% are between the ages of 18 and 24. The penetration rate of smart phones is about 45%, and the national English penetration rate is 92.3%. The Philippine gaming market grew rapidly, with a year-on-year increase of 70%. In terms of game spending, in a recent survey conducted in the Philippines, 33% of online game players said they would pay for the game because of the reasonable price.
Mobile Games in the Philippines
Mobile Legends, developed by NetEase, is a free multiplayer MOBA game, which ranks among the top mobile game downloads and bestseller lists in the Philippines. The game drew on the “League of Legends” and other games launched in Southeast Asia in September 2016.
As an online card fighting game developed by Sky Mavis, Axie Infinity allows players to compete with each other by manipulating a small monster named Axis and unlocking card skills. There are two Ethereum based tokens, AXS (Axie Infinity) and SLP (Small Love Potion). At present, the game is very popular in developing countries such as the Philippines, India, Venezuela, Brazil and Indonesia. Players can make considerable profits from the game.
Genshin Impact is a role-playing game where players can choose and control four interchangeable roles. When exploring the open world and dungeons, players form teams with friends, fight, and formulate strategies to defeat various enemies. MMO, RPG and strategic mobile games are also popular in the Philippines mobile gaming market.
Mobile games have adopted Korean PC games, such as Dragon Nest M and Lineage 2: Revolution, which have attracted many players in the Philippines. In addition to the games mentioned above, MMORPG, including War of Rings, Daybreak Origins and Legacy of Discord, has achieved success in the market.
As a virtual Android system, redfinger cloud phone enables you to have another Android phone on one device. When running on ECS, redfinger hardly needs data, storage and battery power of your own device. With this Android simulator, you can run your game freely on the cloud. In addition, with only one redfinger account, you can manage any number of cloud phones to meet your multitask needs. For example, like enjoying Lineage 2: Revolution with redfinger cloud phone.
Compared with the other five countries in Southeast Asia, the gaming market in the Philippines is not mature. However, with the gradual stabilization of politics, the development of economy and the improvement of smartphone penetration, the Philippine gaming market is now growing rapidly. According to previous statistics, its market revenue will reach US $300 million in 2020.
Game Publishers in the Philippines
Of all 176291 game publishers, more than 425 Philippine publishers are on Google Play. Rocket Game Studio ranks first among the largest game publishers in the Philippines. They have 140 mobile games, with a total download of more than 260.39 million. After Rocket Game Studio, Monstronauts Co., Ltd., founded in 2015, developed and published Cooking Adventures, Potion Punch, Rowan McPaddles: River Rush, etc. They have three mobile games, with a total download of more than 17.37 million times.
Duterte Firing Crime 2, Manok Na Pula – Online, Train to Gensan, and Police Vs Zombies were developed by TATAY, and the total downloads of five mobile games exceeded 16.76 million. In addition, there are a series of game publishers, such as Big Giant Games, Ranida Games, TripSoft Global, Remy Games, etc.
Frequently-used Payment Methods in the Philippines
GCASH is a micropayment system under the Philippine telecommunications company globe telecom, with more than 30 million users. Users can use GCash to buy traffic for mobile phones, recharge phone bills, and pay various living bills. Currently, it has covered local e-commerce, retail, natural gas and other industries. GCash introduces the use of “cashless” methods to provide effective and convenient services. The founding goal is to “turn mobile phones into wallets” and use one card for multiple purposes. Let the Filipino locals also start their own safe and convenient “scan code payment” era.
As the built-in electronic wallet of the super application Grab in Southeast Asia, GrabPay has become a mainstream electronic wallet in Southeast Asia. It has been widely used in the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia and is in the trend of continuous expansion, covering a wide range of users in the region. GrabPay has a wide range of application scenarios, covering both online and offline businesses in the Philippines, especially the taxi scene in the Philippines (Grab is the largest taxi application in the Philippines).
Dragonpay was established in 2010, covering more than 4000 banks and 2000 offline payment points. With Dragonpay, consumers can complete payment through online banking, bank counters and ATM. Because PayPal has a very low penetration rate in developing countries such as the Philippines, Dragonpay, as an alternative online payment option, provides higher security and convenience than traditional credit cards.
