According to the China Internet Network Information Center, by last June, the population of Internet users in China was over 123 million — 63% of those people have broadband access. More that 20 million Chinese play online games, and the e-commerce revenue have grown 50% in relation to last year’s numbers.
credits: shizukabazooka
Estimates of the revenue of the online gaming industry point to a total of 1.3 billion dollars by 2009, an annual growth of 35%, according to IDC. Such development ended up pushing the numbers of other sectors up. Online games brought 17.3 billion Yuan (2.14 billion dollars) to the Telecommunication industry, 7.1 billion Yuan (887.5 million dollars) to the Information Technology industry, and 30 million Yuan (3.7 million dollars) to the Publishing industry.
Unlike American consumers — who usually pay US$ 50 to buy a new game — players in China, where software piracy is still an issue, are willing to pay little for their games. Therefore, game developers have to devise creative ways to generate revenue: according to Bill Bishop, CEO of Red Mushroom Studios, one of the fastest growing areas of the game business in China selling online gear for game characters.
The gaming culture in China is even creating new professions: in Liaozhong, colleting virtual items of online games has become income source for many young people. Even some of the most conservative estimates might say that these so-called gold-farmers bring in around 200 million dollars a year in this underground virtual items auctions industry.
2 replies on “Internet in China: Online Gaming & “Gold Farming””
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[…] make up the biggest group of online game players in China, followed by IT and media industry workers, according to a survey released recently, […]