China To Generate $6.1 Billion From MMOs In 2012

Last year China made a breezy $6 billion from their more than 150 million local gamers, shooting past the forecast that they were expected to pull in only $5 billion. This year, a market research intelligence firm is expecting the ever-growing Chinese market to pull in $6.1 billion from their MMOs alone.

Niko, the research firm behind the estimates, feel that all 150 million Chinese gamers are contributing a lot more to the monetary growth of the Chinese gaming market, and they're slowly evolving out of social and casual games and into the MMO market where they invest even more money into their gaming habits.

Lisa Cosmas Hanson, managing partner of Niko Partners commented about the bustling gaming sector, saying...

“China is home to more than 150 million gamers who collectively generate half of the global PC online games revenue, and several large online game companies that have begun to expand internationally. Our analysis shows that while Chinese gamers start with casual and social games, many evolve into MMOG gamers and then contribute much more revenue than gamers who stick to simpler games,” .... “The percentage of online games revenue derived from MMORPGs has declined in the past several years, but the combined massively multiplayer online games segment of MMORPGs and advanced casual games will remain critically important throughout our 5-year forecast period.”

According to Niko, more than 60% of all China's online video game software revenue is generated from MMOs. What's more is that despite the competitive MMO market, China has their very own publishing rendition of Zynga, and their name is Tencent. According to the report, Tencent is still leading the way with casual games. No surprise there.

Niko Partners also estimates that in two years the Chinese gaming market alone will be worth $9.2 billion dollars, almost more than Hollywood's intake. That's pretty impressive if I must say so myself.

You can learn more about the report by paying a visit to the Official Niko Website.

Will Usher

Staff Writer at CinemaBlend.