Market intelligence firm Niko Partners recently announced results from its latest report, citing US$2.75bn revenue in online games in China in 2008, new online game market segments, continued strength of illegal sales of game consoles, and 23 million PCs in China's 170,000 internet cafés.
The firm predicts that the online game market will enjoy a healthy compound annual growth rate of 26.4 per cent over the next five years with revenue to reach US$8.9bn in 2013.
Lisa Cosmas Hanson, managing partner of Niko Partners, said: “Niko’s conclusion is that China’s online market has plenty of room for growth in the next five years and much of that growth will come from beyond the major metropolises where the number of internet cafés, home PC penetration and internet usage are all on the rise.”
Other key insights from the report include:
• Multiplayer online games accounted for 77 per cent of 2008 online games revenue, with advanced casual and casual games making up the balance of 23 per cent.
• Webgames and games on social networking sites expanded the casual game segment, offering more games to new and casual gamers as well as to hardcore gamers who play MMORPGs.
• Sales of next-generation game consoles continue to climb, though entirely via illegal imports as there has been a ban on consoles since 2000.
• By 2012, the number of online gamers should reach 119 million, a 17.7 per cent increase.
