What is this study and why start with China?
The US has been the largest gaming market in the world for a long time, so it’s understandable that the industry has been fixated on catering to it in every aspect. However, it’s also unmistakable that other markets are key aspects in unlocking new growth opportunities. One aspect is pricing; by understanding different regions and their markets, pricing your product appropriately and competitively will have a higher chance of unlocking greater sales potential. Steam’s recommended regional gaming prices haven’t been updated since 2022 and it has likely left many gamers around the world feeling priced out of the market. Why China? China is the second largest market in PC gaming, with a Steam userbase of 11.4M and is arguably one of the most important regions to target when releasing a game on Steam. The goal of the study is to examine Chinese market pricing and any aspects that might influence the pricing model to better understand Chinese consumer interests.
The Chinese currency is called Renminbi, abbreviated as RMB, and its symbol is ¥ (Yuan), will be used interchangeably in the study.
TL;DR
Let’s start with Steam’s own regional pricing recommendation, which is suggested to be around 50% cheaper than the current USD-to-RMB exchange rate (1:7 ratio). For the most part, if you have stuck with Steam’s recommendation, then you are doing fine. The findings have shown that you should be pricing your game around 30% ~ 55% cheaper than the equivalent of today’s exchange rate. There are also factors to consider when choosing the right range, for example: Is the game AAA or Indie? How much of the game is culturally relevant?
Steam’s recommended pricing example: Default for a $29.99 USD game would be equivalent to ¥210 but is recommended for ¥108, representing 48.5% less in price.
The Data
Publicly available economic data has shown that the range of regional pricing spread is around 38% ~ 70% cheaper in comparison to the current USD/RMB exchange rate. Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), which is used to measure the prices of specific goods in different countries in regard to the purchasing power of that country’s currency, shows that the RMB should be around 46% cheaper than the current exchange rate pairing to achieve parity in purchases. In other words, for the same goods to be bought in the US and China, the goods in China would have to be discounted 46% more than the current exchange rate. Similarly, the Big Mac Index, which is an informal way of observing the PPP, simplifies the calculation by using only the Big Mac as the measurement unit. Though this may seem like a humorous data point, McDonald’s and their signature Big Mac are readily available in multiple countries around the world and factoring in all the economic factors of producing the Big Mac, from sourcing ingredients, wages, cost of storage and more, makes it a reasonably reliable data point. The results show that a Chinese Big Mac is 38% cheaper than a US Big Mac. Other data points, such as GDP per capita adjusted for PPP and minimum wage comparisons suggest a more extreme rate of 68% and 70% cheaper than the current exchange rate respectively. Do note that each of these economic data points has its advantages and limitations, and no individual metric is meant to give the absolute answer but merely provide a broader understanding of the market.
Looking into notable titles also provides another set of data points that will help inform us on pricing by observing how other successful titles have priced their games. For a game to be considered “notable” it must to have a large Chinese user ownership; in many cases, the largest percentage of ownership is Chinese users, as well as being relatively profitable or well-known. This set of data shows pricing to range around 30% ~ 57% cheaper than the equivalent of today’s exchange rate.
So far the data suggests that you should price your game around 30% ~ 55% cheaper than the equivalent of today’s exchange rate, however, there are two observational factors in determining what kind of game should be priced in which part of the spectrum. AAA premium games such as Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty are typically priced more expensive than Steam’s recommendation, around 30% cheaper instead of 50%. It’s possible that the costlier-to-produce AAA premium games forces companies to have a cutoff point in their regional pricing for margin reasons, and many AAA games don’t come with any regional pricing. Another possibility is that the average Chinese gamer is fine with paying more for what they perceive as a more premium gaming experience.
Indie or Indie-looking titles tend to be priced towards a discount of 50% or more. Of course, this could just be indies following Steam’s recommendation and calling it a day, but there are examples where notable China-based indie publishers such as Gamera Games price their games at a aggressive discount price points than Steam’s recommended price. A theory is that perhaps Chinese gamers tend to find indie titles not worthwhile at higher price point, coupled with the fact that China is still in an environment where mobile and F2P games dominate, putting more pressure on indie games to offer more competitive pricing.
A second factor to consider when pricing your game is how culturally relevant it is to the Chinese audience. Games that feature prominent Chinese cultural roots or are relevant in the current consumer pop culture zeitgeist have some capacity to be priced more expensive than Steam’s recommendation. Unfortunately, this is currently only the case for AAA titles such as Black Myth: Wukong and Dynasty Warriors: Origins. Both titles garner 70% and 61% ownership from Chinese players and are set in famous Chinese cultural, historical settings and characters. Conversely, indie titles with similarly strong ties to Chinese culture, such as Spiral Up Games’ Wandering Sword with its “Wuxia-style” pixel art or Gamera Games’ Volcano Princess, a parental simulator type game that’s popular among Chinese audience is still priced lower than Steam’s recommended price. Given the successes seen by the likes of Black Myth: Wukong where it is priced 35% more expensive than the mass acceptance rate of 200 RMB, developers should be considering the similar pricing structure for indies while still keeping in mind that some analysis shows 100 RMB and under is about the mass acceptance rate for indie titles.
Key Takeaway
- Pricing games in China should be around 30% ~ 55% cheaper than the equivalent of today’s USD-RMB exchange rate.
- AAA and Indie games have taken different approaches to this pricing spectrum. AAA games are more expensive than Steam’s recommended while Indies have discounted more than the recommended price.
- Pricing of a game should also consider cultural aspects and influences.
What else to read…
If you want to learn about showcases and events and which to pick from, check out our Summer Showcase Study.
If you want to learn about PR & Marketing, check out our Video Game PR 101: Video Game PR Essentials.
If you want to learn about Community, check out Why you should be on Bluesky and how to start.