China Likely To Surpass US In Online Game Mkt

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China is likely to surpass the U.S. to become world's largest online game market this year, according to a recent report by market research firm iResearch.

China's online game market generated revenue of 20.8 billion yuan ($3.04 billion) in 2008, up 52.2% over the previous year. Over 80% of the revenue came from big, multiplayer online games, with the rest generated from Web games and mobile games.

The overall market is expected to keep growing at an average annual rate of 20% in the coming five years. And iResearch forecasts that the Chinese online market will be worth more than 68 billion yuan by 2012, which will account for almost half of the global market by then. At present, U.S., China and Korea are the world's top three largest online game markets, making up about 29%, 27% and 21% respectively of the global online game market, according to the report.

U.S. game companies derive a major part of their revenue from sales of games overseas. South Korea's online game industry generates half of its revenue from games in its home market. In China, however, most of the money comes directly from its own game players. Negatively influenced by the global economic downturn, both the U.S. and Korea markets will see a drop in game exporting, iResearch estimates.

In China, the enormous base and fast growing of online gamers will further boost China's online game industry, said the report.

China is currently home to 55.5 million online game players, according to the latest stats by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC). In its report, iResearch found that figures for gamers under 18 and above 40 grew at their fastest rate yet last year, though it didn't disclose specifics.

Juliet Ye

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