14 DAY TRIAL // If there's one videogaming market that is beating all the growth predictions, even in this worldwide depression, then that is China. A recent report from a Beijing-based firm called Analysys International is estimating that by 2012, the online gaming market in the Communist country will reach a value of 10.7 billion dollars, after this year, it was evaluated at 3.8 billion. The growth factor is estimated to be around 41% over the next years in order to reach the above mentioned figure.
The research report is saying that there are 69 million people playing online titles in China at the moment, which might sound quite a lot but it's small potatoes compared to the amount of players that might actually have access to it in a few years.
Internet presence in China is currently about 27% of the population and growing rapidly, making it the quickest developing market in the region. South Korea and Japan have rates above 70% and their growth has stalled.
The biggest question is whether the 10.7 billion dollars will be generated by Chinese firms and through Chinese-developed videogames or whether outside companies will be allowed to get a piece of the pie. At the moment, it seems that the regulatory bodies concerned with videogames, the GAAP and the Ministry of Culture, are engaged in a bit of a power struggle related to who gets to actually set the rules for MMO operation in the Communist state.
Recently, the Chinese version of the World of Warcraft MMO was taken out of commission for a few months as it transitioned operation, mainly because regulators decided that some content from the game was not allowed, especially depictions of dead bodies. Regulators also limited the possibility of non-Chinese companies to enter the gaming market, probably in an effort to allow indigenous efforts to thrive and get a big chunk of the market.