BEIJING, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Mobile games are among the few beneficiaries of China's novel coronavirus outbreak, raking in millions of downloads and active users, as the stay-at-home economy flourished across the country.
Data from research institute CNG showed that sales revenue of mobile games in January saw an increase of 49.5 percent year on year, expanding 37.5 percent from the previous month.
The gaming sector maintained its growth momentum after seeing a recovery in 2019, said Wang Xu, the chief analyst with CNG, adding that players stuck in self-quarantine at home helped spur the market.
Among the top 10 games during the Spring Festival holiday, game giants Tencent and Netease accounted for eight, followed by Alibaba Games and Mihoyo, a team based in Shanghai.
Tencent's mobile game "Honour of Kings" was a leading player, reporting a year-on-year increase of 44.6 percent in accumulated flow for the week-long break, according to a report released by CNG.
On top of mobile games, casual puzzle games went viral, in which embedded video advertising played an important role, said the CNG.
Poker game "Xiaomei Doudizhu," which debuted on Jan. 11 this year, topped the list of free Chinese games on Apple's App Store shortly before the Spring Festival, raking in over 1 million daily active users and advertising revenue of 1.5 million yuan (about 214,000 U.S. dollars) every day.
Casual puzzle games also possess huge potential as related companies have implemented new ways to attract more consumers, according to Wang.
A single purchase
