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On Strength of Online Gaming, Chinese Market Soars
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.'"
"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."
Obviously the fact that piracy is harder has nothing to do with it.