26 Million Chinese Gamers Online

Posted by Zonk on Friday January 13, 2006 @06:22AM from the should-have-sent-a-poet-full-of-stars dept.

Gamasutra reports on a recent study done by the Chinese General Administration of Press and Publications finding that there are more than 26 million Chinese gamers online, with something like $470 million in income. From the article: "The GAPP report also theorizes that the future of the online games industry may lie in online casual games and mobile games, both of which saw increases in 2005. Casual games accounted for 30% of the 2005 total online game revenue, and the number of online mobile games increased to 18, a number expected to expand more rapidly once 3G service is introduced to the country. Online game revenue is expected to reach 17.2 billion yuan ($2.1 billion USD) by the year 2010." Scott Jennings has commentary on this at Broken Toys.

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Skeptical. by MaWeiTao · 2006-01-13 06:53 · Score: 2, Insightful

I can't help but think these numbers are inflated, much like MMO subscription figures. I'm curious to know how many of these are individual subscribers and how many haven't been purchased by internet cafes. A lot more gamers in Asia game this way than they do in the West.

China likes this kind of publicity because it makes them look credible as a burgeoning market. Developers also like it because it makes them look successful.

Granted, China has a massive number of people, but the vast majority are in no kind of financial situation to be able to afford gaming online.