Shanghai - China’s online video game market is expanding rapidly, with sales forecasted to grow from $1.7 billion in 2007 to $6 billion in 2012, according to a survey released by Niko Partners today.
“This market is attractive because it is leading the way for online games,” said Lisa Cosmas Hanson, managing partner of Niko Partners, according to VentureBeat.

Market research firm Niko Partners indicates that online gaming is the fastest growing legal games segment in terms of revenue in China, since an estimated 90 percent to 95 percent of packaged games sold in China are pirated copies.

Cosmas Hanson said that it is technologically easier for online game operators to prevent piracy in China and, as a result, online games such as “World Of Warcraft” now represent 95 percent of the Chinese market.

Niko estimates that the pirated packaged software market in China actually shrank from 9.7 million units in 2006 to 6.8 million units in 2007, mainly because of the increased adoption of peer-to-peer networks to download pirated games.

Joakim Baage

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By Peter Fuchs