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Online gaming market is big and getting bigger

Last year the Taiwanese online gaming industry was the second-largest market in the Asia-Pacific region excluding Japan, with revenues of US$170.4 million, according to a report released yesterday by market researcher International Data Corp (IDC).

The report said that local gaming service providers will continue to target senior gamers, both female and male. As casual online games such as mahjong and poker are popular with local gamers who like to play the games during short breaks, IDC predicts that more providers will launch casual online games in the future.

According to the report, China was the region's third-largest market last year, generating US$159.7 million in online gaming revenues, a 46 percent increase from the year before. IDC predicts that by 2007 China will overtake South Korea to become the largest online gaming market in the region.

Unlike Taiwanese gamers, who are fond of casual games, Chinese gamers prefer massive multiplayer online role-playing Games (MMORPGs), which IDC believes will come to dominate the market within two years.

Huge business opportunities in online gaming have prompted many local game developers to invest in the sector, including Soft-World International Corp (智冠科技), the nation's largest online game provider.

"We have been eyeing the market potential in China for a while ? despite the fact that MMORPGs enjoy high popularity there at the moment, I think that casual games with cute characters will get stronger there as soon as female gamers enter the market," Soft-World spokesman Gavin Lin (林盛隆) said.

Soft-World has made good profits with a product line that includes Three Kingdoms Online (三國演義) and Jin Yung Online (金庸群俠傳). The company still has a long way to go to catch up with South Korean firms, which have developed the majority of games that are profitable in both Taiwan and China. The company is now racing, with its subsidiary, Chinesegamer International Corp (中華網龍), to develop more original games, Lin said.

So far this year Chinesegamer has introduced Love Box Online (戀愛盒子Online) and Dragon's Tales Online (東方傳說Online). Both have been warmly received by local gamers, Lin said.

The IDC report predicted the overall gaming market in the Asia-Pacific region will hit US$1 billion next year, up from US$761.5 million last year. Thailand and the Philippines are poised to emerge as new players in the sector due to the high availability of addictive online game in these countries, the report said.

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