Social gaming company PapayaMobile announced its “Gateway to China” programme, which it described as “the only turnkey solution for Western developers to launch their games in China.” The company said it will offer free China localisation services; game reviews and access to other marketing channels; distribution and management of games in Chinese app stores; introduction to Chinese OEMs for pre-installs; and easy access to China Billing Solutions through the Papaya Social SDK. It noted that BulkyPix, Kiloo, Connect2Media, Mindstorm Studios and Digital Prunes will make up the “first wave” of developers participating in the programme.

Si Shen, CEO of PapayaMobile, said: “With three years of experience working in China, PapayaMobile has established relationships with key handset manufacturers, app stores, wireless operators and press, making Papaya the most widely distributed mobile social networking service in this territory. Our goal is to share these relationships with our developers so that they too can monetise off of the largest mobile market in the world.”

In a statement, the company noted that China is a “challenging” market for game developers, due to factors such as culture, economy, and regulations. The distribution of Android apps is “difficult and fragmented” due to the lack of Android Marketplace on all legally sold Android phones.

Earlier this year, PapayaMobile said that it had launched its last own-developed game, in order to focus on providing developers with tools and services to “more effectively drive user engagement, distribution and monetisation of games.” It has also open-sourced its Papaya Game Engine code, from its back-catalogue of games.