19 Jan 2010 09:26

Chinese games taking up more of online gaming market

Shanghai. January 19. INTERFAX-CHINA - Chinese online games generated revenue of RMB 15.78 billion ($2.31 billion) in 2009, accounting for 61.2 percent of total industry revenues last year, according to a report released by the Ministry of Culture on Jan. 18.

China's online gaming industry generated RMB 25.8 billion ($3.78 billion) in revenue on the year, up 39.5 percent from 2008. Revenues from Chinese games grew by 41.9 percent on an annual basis, according to the figures.

China had 499 online game operators at the end of 2009 with the three largest firms collectively accounting for 52.9 percent of the market.

As of the end of 2009, there were 499 online game operators in China, with the top three operators collectively accounting for 52.9 percent of the market. The largest firm in terms of revenue, Tencent Inc., pushed former top operator Shanda Games to second place. NetEase.com Inc. was ranked third.

As of Dec. 31, 361 online games were either up and running or undergoing trials in China, an increase of 21.2 percent from the end of 2008. The MoC approved 115 new online games for operation in 2009, of which 35 were developed abroad.

Approximately 79 percent of total industry revenue, or RMB 20.38 billion ($2.99 billion), was contributed by massively multi-player online role-playing games, while advanced casual games accounted for roughly 13.8 percent, or RMB 3.55 billion ($520.53 million), in 2009.

Chinese online game companies exported 51 titles, generating a total export value of $106 million, according to the MoC.

Investments remained stable in 2009, with children's and social networking service games among the most attractive sectors for investment, the MoC said.

-HJL