The Filipino Game Market
OVERVIEW
The Philippines (officially the Republic of the Philippines, capital — Manila) is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It is a dynamically developing nation that is currently transitioning from an agriculture-based economy to one based in manufacturing and services.
Filipino culture comprises a blend of Asian and European traditions. Spanish colonization had a marked impact on the nation’s development.
Official name: Republic of the Philippines
Capital: Manila
Population: 109 581 078 (Worldometers)
Average Age: 25.7 (Worldometers)
GDP: $355,5 bln (WorldBank) – 2019
Official languages: English and Filipino (Tagalog)
Games Market
The Filipino gaming market is, like the rest of South Asia, largely mobile. However, a large number of gamers also have a personal computer, so the share of console gaming is markedly lower.
This also extends to development. Major mobile game developers and publishers like Gameloft and Gumi have offices in the Philippines.
Player Statistics
According to Adyen, there are two main payment methods used in the country:
- E-wallets (GCash and SmartMoney) and
- bank payments.
Residents tend not to use bank cards often, preferring to pay for goods in cash or via their phones (the latter mainly applies to the younger generation).
An interesting detail emerged in Newzoo’s recent study of Filipino gamers: both playing and watching games is important to gamers (63% of them), 10% of the online audience regularly watches gaming content, while playing less than twice a month.
80% of the country’s paying players have made in-game purchases in the last six months. 42% of women and 35% of men spend money on in-game purchases (mainly on boosters).
Popular genres:
- Strategy
- Puzzle
- Action
Marketing
A joint study by Aarki and Chartboost makes some interesting revelations regarding the Philippines and iOS (unfortunately, the year it pertains to isn’t stated).
| eCPI | 7D ARPU | 7D ROI | 7D ARPPU |
| $0,86 | $0,68 | 79,03% | $186,4 |
However, the companies note that the country doesn’t have a particularly high customer conversion rate. But 7D ARPPU show that if companies can learn to attract them, it’s possible to achieve excellent results in the region.
Developers
On the whole, the Philippines cannot boast a particularly large number of developers. However, the country is home to office branches belonging to Keywords Studios, Gameloft, Gumi, and Garena, which speaks volumes about its market maturity and human resource development.
Most prominent local studios:
- Level Up! (Tencent) – Ragnarok, Perfect World – publishers;
- Altitude Games;
- Anino Games;
- IP E-Games.