Online gaming is huge in Asia, and it continues to grow rapidly in China. Niko Partners has released its latest report on the Chinese game industry, which looks at gamer demand, behavior, preferences and usage based on a survey conducted in 20 Chinese cities. Niko is forecasting that by the end of this year there will be 64.9 million online gamers in China who will spend $52 per person on average.
Niko notes that the Chinese market for games is starting to "offer a wider range of games to serve a broader and discerning Chinese gamer audience." That audience typically prefers free-to-play online games over the subscription model (with World of Warcraft being a huge exception of course), but these players also spend "a great deal of time" on PC offline games. Although people often play at Internet cafés, Niko also found that 84 percent of those surveyed own a PC at home, which far outpaces the national rate for all consumers in China.
“There’s no doubt that the market for games is growing at an incredible rate in China,” said Lisa Cosmas Hanson, managing partner of Niko Partners. “The economics of the market are shifting from supply-driven to demand-driven, which means that game publishers, hardware makers and service providers must understand their users behaviors and preferences in order to offer products and services that will be very popular in this hit-driven business.”
