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Networked games squeeze out stand-alone platforms

Several Taiwan PC game software design houses are moving their research and development departments to China and redoubling their efforts to explore the international market, while LAN (local area network) games are grabbing market share from PC games, an industry source said yesterday.

Liu Meng-ming, general manager of Front Fareast Industrial Corp, said that the number of computer game software design houses in Taiwan may fall from the current 75 to 30, in the face of international competition generated with Taiwan's WTO entry.

Liu said that LAN games have become increasingly popular in Taiwan's 4,500 Internet cafes. On the other hand, the market for PC games and TV-based games such as Nintendo and Playstation is growing at a much slower pace than the more-than 100 percent annual growth of the online game market, he added.

The Market Information Center (MIC) of the Institute for Information Industry predicts that the domestic sales value of PC games will grow from NT$4.7 billion in 2000 to NT$7.79 billion in 2003.

Meanwhile, the online games market in 2000 was valued at NT$50 million. By 2003, the market value is estimated to reach NT$4 billion, according to MIC projections.

A spokesman for Third Wave, a software design and distribution company of the Acer Group, said that most computer game distributors in Taiwan have adjusted their marketing strategies by putting more emphasis on research and development carried out in China.
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