I wrote for Naavik about how Chinese studios have become the default partners for bringing Western IP to mobile. Read the full article here.
Why I wrote about this
It’s hard to ignore the pattern: virtually every breakout Western FPS on mobile has been built in the East.
The gist of it
The biggest mobile adaptations of Western IP (PUBG Mobile, Call of Duty: Mobile, Diablo Immortal, and now Age of Empires Mobile) have all relied heavily on Chinese developers like Tencent’s TiMi and LightSpeed or NetEase. In contrast, internally developed Western efforts such as Battlefield Mobile, Apex Legends Mobile, and Warcraft Rumble have struggled or been shut down.
The advantage isn’t just access to China. Studios like Tencent and NetEase bring deep free-to-play expertise, especially in progression design, monetization tuning, and relentless live operations. They also build for mobile-first audiences, optimizing for lower-end devices and global scale from day one. This is something many PC- and console-native Western teams still underestimate.
While there’s no structural reason Western studios couldn’t compete, they lack the same genre specialization in mobile shooters and large-scale 4X. With upcoming titles like Valorant Mobile and Destiny: Rising again tied to Chinese partners, the center of gravity in these genres remains firmly in the East.
Key takeaways
- In mobile FPS and 4X, Chinese studios have a clear execution edge over Western teams.
- Tencent and NetEase combine IP access, F2P systems mastery, and aggressive live ops into a repeatable playbook.
- Western studios can only compete if they catch up in exectuion.