Huawei reaffirmed its commitment to helping developers drive innovation, disruption and business expansion, offering new tools and technologies to empower them to create new and unique experiences for gamers globally. 

Speaking at the conference, Alexandre Salem, Global Director, Global Partnerships & Eco-Development Business Department at Huawei, shared the growing gaming trends that developers should be aware of, as well as the solutions and opportunities that AppGallery can provide to help them to grow and succeed overseas. 

“The pandemic has changed the way people view gaming as a mainstream form of entertainment, resulting in a growing momentum of mobile gaming. This is very positive for the industry,” said Alexandre. “We want developers to help fuel this growth, which is why we’re working with them to realise their true innovation potential. Through AppGallery, they can bring help to next-level experiences to consumers and shape the way users consume content.” 

Pandemic supercharges momentum of mobile gaming adoption amongst consumers 

During the session, Alex shared how gaming has grown in momentum over the past year, turning into a US$175 billion industry in 2020, with mobile gaming the fastest-growing segment. Now accounting for 48% of all gaming revenues in 2020, it’s up 13% from the previous year. In terms of player base, the momentum is also very positive. In 2020 there were more than 2.8 billion players globally, an increase of 6.4% compared to 2019. 

This is complemented by the growing number of games available on AppGallery, making Huawei a true powerhouse of mobile gaming. With consumers increasingly looking to mobile apps for convenient, innovative, and fun gameplay options, Huawei is uniquely positioned to help developers and publishers create new and unique experiences through its suite of tools, services and resources available. 

Empowering developers to create new and unique gaming experiences 

Huawei constantly collaborates with the brands and gaming developers globally, such as game developers Playrix and Gameloft, to ensure consumers experience new and unique ways to play, with access to the wide range of mobile games available. 

AppGallery is committed to providing developers in the gaming sector with the technological capabilities, full-spectrum support, and commercial opportunities they need to succeed in an increasingly complex and competitive environment. Alex highlighted four key pillars that provides attractive value propositions for developers and publishers to partner with AppGallery – scale, speed, discoverability and monetisation, as well as availability for high-touch support. 

With scale, AppGallery possesses extensive distribution capabilities to over 560 million monthly active users. The platform also provides speed in terms of simple Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) integration, along with easy-to-use and powerful tools to assist in development and publication.  

Leading mobile game developer Gameloft for example worked with AppGallery to launch over 11 games on the platform, including four major games such as Asphalt 9 Legends, March of Empires, War Planet Online, and Dragon Mania Legends. The close partnership created a console-like gaming experience for consumers and resulted in an over 70% increase in downloads in the first three months of launch.  

Extensive support for developers looking to expand beyond their home markets 

Through the full suite of services such as AppGallery, Petal Search, Petal Maps, and HUAWEI Ads, Huawei offers developers the resources needed to increase discoverability, and develop monetisation strategies. AppGallery also provides high-touch support through offices across 170 countries and regions globally, six developer service centres, and tailored partner marketing for over 5.1 million registered developers. 

Playrix, developer of all-time hits such as Gardenscapes and Homescapes, partnered with AppGallery for its series of game launches and received full end-to-end support, including implementation of HMS Core Kits and promotions through Huawei Ads. This resulted in a series of successful launches globally with a strong download performance. 

To help developers navigate and successfully launch their apps in overseas markets, Huawei also offers overseas developers all-rounded assistance, from policy consulting to product localisation, to support user acquisition and monetisation. With over 10 years of distribution experience in China, AppGallery is well-placed to help international developers unlock business opportunities and succeed in the expanding Chinese market.  

“One of our underlying priorities is to offer more choice of domestic and global apps to Chinese consumers,” said Alex. “Our extensive user base in the Chinese market and in-depth understanding of the domestic app marketplace and user characteristics also mean we can help international developers to identify obstacles and challenges accurately and efficiently.”