Gaming in China

China has become the great frontier in online services and gaming as the country continues to grow its use of the Internet for various social and entertainment applications. Estimates are that the country has the largest online population in the world but has only reached about 31% penetration as of the middle of 2010. Clearly the potential is tremendous for not only the number of online users in China to outpace the rest of the world, but for various offerings to be utilized in massive volume.

It has been estimated that the online games market in China was greater than $4.5 billion US in 2009 fueled by over 69 million online gamers. Revenue is estimated to double within the next three years as more and more gamers continue to play existing successful titles and eagerly anticipate new and more exciting offerings. Tencent holds a leadership position in being the operator of a number of the top ten online games in China. It is poised to strengthen its position as the online gaming provider of choice through its widely utilized QQ IM platform and the evolution of its next generation of online game to appeal to its customers.

The Tencent Games portfolio is a diverse collection of games for a variety of player types. From mini-casual games such as Bubble Arena to advanced casual games like the market leading online FPS Cross Fire to full-fledged MMOG’s like QQ Fantasy there is something for all levels of play and time. While the majority of these games are currently available in China only, some offerings have made their way to the U.S. to give other markets an introduction to the content and free-to-play model that has appealed to so many online gamers in China. Follow this link to QQ Games to learn more and start playing!