Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

On Strength of Online Gaming, Chinese Market Soars

Posted by Zonk on from the i-don't-think-seventy-percent-growth-is-a-real-number dept.

GameDaily has the word that the Chinese gaming market has grown an astounding 68% over last year, largely on the strength of online transactions. Online gaming is the bread and butter of the Chinese and Korean markets, with free-to-play titles the standard and for-purchase in-game items making up the bulk of business income. "The online segment was up 74 percent over 2005, with online games generating $995 million in revenue ... 'Chinese online game operators introduced free-to-play massively multiplayer games that are, in fact, not at all free, because gamers spend money on virtual items and services in the game. These free-to-play games helped the market size rise beyond expectations in 2006,' commented Lisa Cosmas Hanson, managing partner of Niko Partners. 'In addition, the country added 3.4 million total gamers in 2006 and now boasts 37.5 million gamers, 90% of whom play online games. By 2011 this number is expected to swell to 71.9 million.'"

2 of 12 comments (clear)

  1. Like Gunbound? by MeanderingMind · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I realize Gunbound isn't an MMORPG, but that's what I'm reminded of.

    When it started, you could spend real money to buy the items in the game, or you could play the game and earn gold to buy the items. Some items were real money only, and some were game money only. It seemed fair and was fun.

    After a long break, I returned to the game to find it had changed. Rather than being able to permanently buy items, you could "rent" them for a week or some meagre time period at the same price you used to be able to "own" them. If you really wanted to, you could still "own" the items. It only cost about 100 times what it used to.

    I may be able to understand the "Person works long hours, doesn't have time to play, spends money to reduce 'grind'" argument, but the Gunbound method of doing things bothers me.

    --
    Thunderclone: ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE! ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE!
  2. Is it because MMO business model beats piracy? by joeflies · · Score: 3, Insightful

    this model of free gaming but pay (i.e. subscriber-based) content turns the corner of making all the content available on a copyable disk. Thus, although I know personally how crazy the MMO and internet cafes are throughout asia, it seems to me the growth isn't necessarily an upsurgance of interest, but rather a business model that can drive revenue in a heavily pirated environment.