Niko Partners, a firm researching Asian IT markets, predicts that by the end of this year the number of Chinese mobile gamers will reach 192 million, thereby exceeding the expected figure for the audience of players on personal computers of the Celestial Empire – 180 million.
In addition, analysts from Niko Partners believe that within five years the revenue from mobile games, which amounted to in 2011. $600 million will increase by about six times to several billion. As the main stimulating factors, the researchers cite the active penetration of 3G, the growth of smartphone sales from various vendors and, finally, the desire of users to play inexpensive but exciting games on their “smart” devices.
We also add that today it is impossible to name a company that dominates the Chinese market. Social casual games are already quite popular, but the growth of interest in mobile hardcore games is just beginning. It is also interesting that many Chinese users have several mobile phones, but they only play on one of them.