■  Phoebe Yu

September 12-15, a Taiwan amusement delegation of Committee Zhuang Wenlin and Section Chief Li Yijing from Taiwan Commercial Division, Chairman Wei Mingshan and Honorary Chairman Li Kezhu from Taiwan Digital Entertainment Industry Association, Chairman Shi Zhengyi, Honorary Chairman Ou Zhewen and Vice Chairman Yang Yiqiang from Taiwan Commercial Electronic Game Industry Association, Honorary Chairman Wei Wenbin from Vending Machine Commercial Association, Director Lai Yinliang from TAMA/TDEA Association, Chairman Ye Zhenkun from Parenting Development Association and representatives from some Taiwanese enterprises made a visit to Panyu and Zhongshan, exchanging experiences about entertainment venues, and enhancing understanding of the current situation in Guangdong region and national policies. The visit has helped people to understand the industrial development of Taiwan, making a positive contribution for the smooth development of the amusement industry on both sides of the Taiwan strait.

On September 12th, after the visit to WAHLAP TECH, Zhanhui Animation Science & Technology Co., Ltd. and MecPower Electronics Co., Ltd., the delegation went to the Panyu Animation Industry Association for cross-strait industry exchanges, Vice President Su Benli from China Software Industry Association and Secretary-General Guo Zhixiong from Panyu Animation Industry Association were invited. They also hoped that the meeting would have a positive contribution for the long-term development of the amusement industry.

Taiwan amusement delegation visited the local famous industrial park “Startoon City” and some famous companies.

At the meeting, Su Benli introduced the current situation of China's game industry and it’s future development, he explained with data that in 2016, the value of the global game market is 99.6 billion U.S. dollars covering online games, mobile games and business areas, of which China accounted for 24.4 billion and Asia accounted for 46.6 billion. It shows that China’s game market has the largest growth in the world currently. More than this, the development of China’s commercial game also has a strong growth. The country has 10,000 entertainment venues in operation, creating 45 billion RMB of revenues per year. With the scale of the entire game industry is valued at about 60 billion RMB and the sales of commercial game at about 15 billion RMB, this accounts for 25% of China’s game market.  Thereafter, Su introduced the difference between game machines and amusement machines in China, and shared the views on the trends of the industry's development: 1. The transition to “Commercial real estate” among shopping malls. 2. Children's playgrounds and arcade venues turn to be strongly themed. 3. The development of experiential playing. 4. The development of branding and chain management. 5. The integration between the entertainment industry and high-technology, especially the AR/VR technology, bringing a new experience to users. Finally, he introduced the government's policies: 《Notice of the Ministry of culture and the Ministry of public security on Further Strengthening about entertainment venues and promoting the healthy development of the industry》 and 《Notice of the Ministry of culture on allowing domestic and foreign enterprises to engage in the production and sale of entertainment equipment》, Which are all making the industry full of vitality.  The group said that because of the harsh management of the machines and the strict limit of the venues, Taiwan’s amusement industry has entered a downturn. Then, the members discussed several questions about venue management, review, import, laws and regulations, gaining lots of extensive knowledge.

During the meeting, Su Benli introduced the current situation of China's game industry and it’s future development to the group.

On September 13th, the group was pleased to attend the opening ceremony and banquet of GTI Expo, exchanging views with exhibitors, understanding technology, management and operation mode of the machines, and sharing the industry status and planning in Taiwan.  After two days communication in Panyu, the delegation arrived in Zhongshan on the 14th. They visited G-Look Land, which is the famous FEC in Guangdong. It is one of the earliest indoor park, after 18 years’ exploration and development, G-Look Land has become a family center that focus on Children. Today, the park has set up more than 60 direct sale stores and expanded by 15 per year. Such a successful business has attracted a lot of interest. So under the guidance of the park manager, they had well understand about the operation mode and had great experiences about the machine.  September 15th, some well-known amusement companies in Zhongshan like Zhongshan Golden Dragon Amusement Equipment Co., Ltd., G-look Amusement Machine Co., Ltd., and Ocean Amusement Machine Co., Ltd. were visited. After the experiences of indoor and outdoor machines, the members were impressed by the quality, appearance and the way of playing, also were amazed at the development of the technology in Zhongshan area.

The delegation went to visit Zhongshan Golden Dragon Amusement Equipment Co., Ltd., G-look Land and Zhongshan Ocean Amusement Machine Co., Ltd.

Time flies when you're having fun. The visit of Taiwan amusement delegation has been an end, but the exchanges of the industry would keep moving forever. Through the visit, we believe that the two sides would have deeper understanding of the development in industry, and hope that the closely exchanges would make more contributions to Chinese entertainment industry.

※The article is published in the GTI Magazine Issue No. 158 in October, 2017