China’s market for gaming cheats tops US$293mil despite crackdown

The country’s black market for cheats and hacks exploits popular titles such as League Of Legends and Peacekeeper Elite, the Chinese version of PUBG Mobile. Cheatware prices range from as high as US$450 to less than US$1, which helps vendors engage a broad group of consumers. — SCMP

Software that enables users to cheat in popular multiplayer video games is now a business worth more than 2bil yuan (RM1.21bil or US$293mil) in China, the world’s biggest gaming market, according to Tencent Holdings.

Shenzhen-based Tencent, which runs the world’s largest video games business by revenue, presented that annual domestic market estimate for cheatware used in mobile and personal computer games at an online lecture series called “Guardian Program Salon” held on Sept 1, according to Chinese media reports.