China's online games industry develops rapidly
SHANGHAI, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- China has become one of the regions that boast fastest growth in the online games industry in the world after 10 year's development, said Yu Yongzhan, deputy director of the Press and Publication Administration of China.
China now has 13.8 million online game players compared with zero 10 years ago, indicating it has a great market potential, said Yu, while addressing a forum of the second China international digital entertainment expo (ChinaJoy) in Shanghai on Monday.
The number of online game players grew from 8.4 million in 2002 to 13.8 million in 2003, a year-on-year increase of 63.8 percent, while the sales income increased from 910 million yuan (109 million US dollars) to 1.32 billion yuan (159 million dollars), up 45.8 percent, according to Yu.
Foreign participants to the forum said North America, Australia and Europe had been the major markets for online games, but China was emerging as a promising growth market due to its 200 million young people.
Industry insiders forecast the market potential of online game industry in China would reach 9.3 billion yuan in value by 2006.
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