China online gaming trends

by Alan Rose { Aug 2nd 2006 at 3:35PM }

BusinessWeek online recently ran an article that effectively summarizes major issues in the burgeoning Chinese gaming industry, including MMO addiction, Internet population growth, and the increasing quality of China's homegrown titles. Also, the horse armor debate may soon find new life overseas, as there are plans for several Chinese game operators to switch from a subscription-based revenue model to the sale of virtual goods and other downloadable content "needed to advance various games".

The article is supplemented by a slideshow that showcases China's hottest online games, one of which hails from the States -- Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach. This is consistent with vendors I visited during a recent trip to Shanghai who claimed that DDO was among their bestsellers.

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Tags: businessweek online, china internet, china online gaming, ddo, journey to the west, korea gaming, lineage, netease, shanda interactive, soul of the ultimate nation, turbine entertainment, westward journey

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

minus_273 @ Aug 2nd 2006 4:37PM

#1

blue dragon = intended to japanese market made by japanese developers.

china!=japan.

seriously, how the hell is this relevant in an article about chinese MMORPGs.

I was actually expecting a gold farmer joke to be the first post. I suspect the chinese might find this one to be more insulting considering the recent history with japan.

lothar @ Aug 2nd 2006 4:39PM

If there is a killer MMO app for the 360 that goes over well in China 360 will be in the black in no time.

HaloBreaker @ Aug 2nd 2006 4:44PM

Cage is upset that Joystiq doesn't care about his apparently AWESOME find. It's the second post I've seen him try and sell it as somethign amazing, when it looks no more exciting that Grandia III, or Dragon Quest VIII.

blahman @ Aug 2nd 2006 5:02PM

"Since Joystiq will not post the trailer to Blue Dragon (for the 360)...here we go."

Why would joystiq even need to post it? It's not newsworthy at all. There's Megaman ZX trailers out now, you don't see me clamoring for joystiq to post them just because I think people would like it. Make your own blog and post it there, Cage.

Bailama Pessima @ Aug 2nd 2006 5:10PM

Why should he be upset for anyway China's gaming industryis not like Japan's.

Cage @ Aug 2nd 2006 5:21PM

Fellas...fellas...just throwing that out there. Adds a little to the conversation than the responses on here. Too many "been there/done that" people in here. As a gamer I could care less who a game is "intended" to. Hmm...Halo is intended for the US! No other countries can play it! See how dumb that sounds?

borgie @ Aug 2nd 2006 5:52PM

China is all about PC Gaming like Korea. Console gaming has very little relevance since most poeple play games online at cafes with friends, similar to Korea. The consoles are only big in Japan and Taiwan, and even in Taiwan their influence is declining. Pretty much the future of gaming in China is online PC gaming, and neither Xbox or PS3 is going to matter much in the Greater China world.

I love the fact local games are getting better and more dominate. I'm glad they're not going to follow the aging console model of Japan and US, but rather fighting Korea for the future of online PC Gaming. Soon the PC will be a living room appliance in Asia and console will have less place in the home. Wii may have a shot with its innovative game play, but it's not likely to have much of an impact.