年中國網遊市場將佔全球半壁江山

【英文原文】

China Poised to Claim Half of Global Online Game Market, Report Says

Games are serious business in China. The country's online game market will reach 41 billion yuan by 2012 ($6 billion), accounting for half the global market, according to newly released data from Inc., a Beijing-based third-party data analysis firm (related report in Chinese here).

The report states that almost two-thirds of China's 338 million Web users are now online game players. The online game industry, which currently accounts for more than half of the total Internet economy, will see strong annual growth at a rate of 20% in future years, the report says.

The mainstream remains the awkwardly named sector of Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games, or MMORPGs. In October, six out of the 10 most popular online games in China are MMORPG games, according to the report. World of Warcraft by Activision Blizzard, Inc. (ATVI) still tops the list with the most registered players and peak simultaneous online users. But the current government regulatory fighting over its Chinese license, held by Inc. (NTES), may yet have a negative impact on the game, according to the report.

Casual games--simple games such as card games--take second place with three ranked among the top 10 game list, while Web page games--such as Tencents' QQ games--are emerging as a new growth area. According to the report, by the end of Octover 2009, there were 1.54 million users playing the top five Web page games, with each user playing for an average of 30 minutes a day.

The report also discusses the problem of the 'free-to-play' business model that's prevalent in China's online game sector. While many games companies in the U.S., for example, charge subscription fees, most Chinese games utilize the free-to-play model, which allows players to try out a game without paying. The longer players stay in the game, the more likely they will be to pay for in-game items to move up into higher levels of play. But that also means that people who spend the most money are the best performers.

The report notes that China's game developers have been considering subscription models since earlier this year. Among the top 10 games, four are subscription-based titles and two were commercially launched this year, including Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd.'s (SNDA) major new title, AION. The says that a shift to the subscription model would be more likely to create a sense of equity and fairness in the games, because the top players would be those who spend the most time playing, instead of those who spend the most.

China's online game revenue in 2008 was CNY20.8 billion, accounting for about 27% global share, ahead of South Korea at 21% and slightly behind the U.S. at 29%, according to an earlier report by Shanghai-based market research firm iResearch. The firm also predicted that China is likely to surpass the U.S. to become the world's largest by the end of 2009.

【中文譯文】

2012年中國網遊市場將佔全球半壁江山

網絡遊戲成了中國的重要行業。北京第三方數據分析公司新公佈的報告預計，2012年中國網絡遊戲市場規模將達到人民幣410億元（合60億美元），佔據全球網遊市場的半壁江山。

的報告說，目前中國3.38億網民中有將近三分之二都是網絡遊戲玩家。報告說，中國網絡遊戲行業目前佔據了互聯網經濟總規模的半數以上，在未來還將以每年20%的速度增長。

主流網絡遊戲仍然是大型多人在線角色扮演遊戲 (MMORPG)。報告說，今年10月，中國最熱門的10款網絡遊戲中有6款都屬於大型多人在線角色扮演遊戲。動視暴雪(Activision Blizzard)開發的《魔獸世界》(World of Warcraft)在註冊用戶和最高同時在線人數方面仍然排名榜首。但報告指出，目前圍繞着這款遊戲大陸運營權的政府監管紛爭可能會給《魔獸世界》帶來負面影響。網易公司目前持有《魔獸世界》的中國大陸獨家運營權。

牌類遊戲等休閒類遊戲在10大熱門遊戲中佔據了三席，僅次於大型多人在線角色扮演遊戲；而騰迅QQ遊戲等網頁遊戲正逐漸成爲一個新的增長領域。報告說，截至2009年10月底，排名前5位的網頁遊戲玩家總數達到154萬人，玩家平均在線時長爲30分鐘。

的報告還討論了目前在中國網絡遊戲行業盛行的裝備收費模式問題。舉例來說，很多美國遊戲公司都是按照時間收費的，但大多數中國網絡遊戲都採取了裝備收費模式，玩家可以免費試玩。用戶玩遊戲的時間越長，就越有可能花錢購買遊戲裝備，以獲得更高的遊戲級別。但這也意味着花錢最多的玩家就在遊戲中表現最好。

報告指出，中國網遊開發商自今年年初以來一直在考慮按照時間收費。在排名前十的網絡遊戲中，時間收費型網遊佔據了4個席位，其中兩款是今年纔開始商業化運營的新遊戲，包括盛大互動娛樂有限公司(Shanda Interactive Entertainment)的主要新遊戲《永恆之塔》(AION)。說，轉向時間收費模式更有可能給遊戲帶來公平和公正感，因爲玩的最好的玩家將是那些花時間最多的人，而不是那些花錢最多的用戶。

中國上海市場研究公司艾瑞諮詢集團(iResearch)此前的一份報告說，中國網絡遊戲市場2008年收入爲人民幣208億元，約佔全球市場的27%，這一比例高於韓國的21%，略低於美國的29%。該公司還預計，中國可能會在2009年底前超越美國，成爲全球最大的網絡遊戲市場。