Find Your Sister: China's hottest mobile game
Staff Reporter 2013-04-17 08:54
A screenshot from Find Your Sister. (Internet photo)
Find Your Sister, a free mobile phone game in China, has become a hit with over 55 million subscribers and 8 million active players daily, topping the Apple App Store in the country for downloads.
The game got off to a slow start on its release last September but improvements to its gameplay have paid off since early this year. The game has managed to attract people who have not been playing online games before, from toddlers aged 2-3 to people over the age of 60, according to China Entrepreneur magazine.
A user who plays the game regularly said the game is popular because it can be played anytime and anywhere, such as the subway commute to work, when you can take out your phone and take on one challenge after another.
One major attraction of the game is its humorous content, as well as its multiplayer feature.
The game is currently making 5 million yuan (US$810,000) a month through the Apple App Store and income from the Android platform also started to grow sharply in March.
Liu Yong, CEO of the website rekoo, which distributes the game, says the game derives its income mainly from sales of chargeable virtual tools, which are indispensable for helping players complete various challenges.
The game's flaw however lies in its short lifespan and the limited replay ability common to many mobile online games.
Despite this, the game embodies the rapid emergence of the mobile phone gaming market in China. Liu Yong says he is upbeat about the prospects for mobile online games, which he believes will account for 30% of China's online gaming market.
