In a drastic spike over 2006, Chinese gamers dumped $1.7 billion into online games last year.
The intelligence firm Niko Partners delivered the statistics, also noting that it expects that figure to reach $2.5 billion this year and $6 billion by 2012.
The reason for the increase was not hard to finger. “China’s spending on games is up thanks to their booming economy,” said Lisa Cosmas Hanson, managing partner of Niko Partners.
Chinese gamers spent USD 1.7 billion on online games in 2007, up 71 per cent from the prior year, according to market intelligence firm Niko Partners.
“14 million hardcore Chinese gamers play online games more than 22 hours per week. They play online, LAN, and single-player offline PC games in China’s 185,000 Internet cafés and increasingly on their PCs at home, thanks to falling prices and higher disposable income.”
The firm also discovered that gamers were buying consoles despite official sanctions against selling them in the country. Sales of the illegal imports reached 2.48 million units in 2007, a 75 percent spike from the previous year.
There was also a 56 percent year-to-year jump in the purchasing of legitimate PC games.
Source: Gamesindustry.biz
