--FILE--A Chinese mobile game player plays Tencent's multiplayer online battle royale game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, on his smartphone in Ji'nan city, east China's Shandong province, 16 March 2018. Chinese mobile game developers have been increasing their market share in South Korea over the last year, which indicates the growing competitiveness of the country's cultural exports, industry insiders said. "I have witnessed a dramatic improvement in Chinese mobile games in the last two years, both in terms of the quality of games and also intriguing storylines. Korean gaming companies are sometimes eclipsed in terms of creativity when compared with Chinese rivals, " a Chinese employee surnamed Ma who works for a large-scale South Korean gaming company, told the Global Times on Monday (11 June 2018). In 2017, a total of 16 Chinese mobile games were ranked among the top 20 mobile games in South Korea in terms of downloads, taking in sales revenue of 196.5 billion won ($182.6 million), up 74 percent year-on-year, China Central Television reported on Monday, citing a report issued by South Korea-based research company Igaworks. The five best-selling Chinese mobile games in South Korea include Girls' Frontline, The Epoch of Eternity and Onmyoji, according to the report. At the same time, the number of Chinese mobile games released in the Google Play application store stood at 136 last year, up 19 percent year-on-year, the report noted.
