2009-01-07 11:18:17 - China's online game industry entering a boom period, with online game operators now generating increasing revenues and a growing large number of new entrants coming to the market every year.

Sales revenues achieved by online game operators in China totaled RMB 10.57 billion ($1.55 billion) in 2007, and the figure is expected to reach RMB 12.67 billion ($1.86 billion) for 2008 and RMB 18.21 billion ($2.67 billion) in 2010. At present, there are some 120 gaming operators running approximately 200 online games in China Shanda (NASDAQ:SNDA), Giant Interactive (NYSE:GA), NetEase

(NASDAQ:NTES) and The9 (NASDAQ:NCTY) are China's top four online game operators in terms of revenues. These games are predominantly played in internet cafes in China where Buzz Inc's 12buzz.com is being used as the hardwired home page. This year Buzz Inc (OTC:BZTG) will launch a special edition of the 12buzz.com home page that is specifically designed for the internet cafes. This site will will be broken in to 4 menu options on the front page leading to Games, an Online Business Applications Centre, Communications and Financial Services. Advertising will be available on this page.

Revenue will be earned from Advertising, Sales and Revenue Sharing Deals.

The majority of online game revenues in China come are active in the massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). However, casual games are becoming increasingly popular, which are usually easier to pick up and less time-consuming. Web games, due to their ease of play and method of access, have become popular among office workers and are considered to offer great potential for in-game advertising due to the strong purchasing power of its user group. Web game companies are attracting venture capital investment and large Chinese portals such as Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) have started to explore the Web game market and Buzz sees good traffic to their games site.

In 2007, revenues generated by mobile games reached RMB 777 million ($113.3 million). Mobile game revenues are expected to maintain their high growth momentum and reach RMB 1.29 billion ($188.1 million) in 2008 and RMB 3.16 billion ($460.77 million) in 2010.

Although there are almost three times more mobile users than Internet users, those who play online games on their mobiles make up a very small proportion of mobile users. The mobile online gaming segment generated revenues of RMB 120 million ($17.5 million) in 2007. The year 2008 was a turning point for the online mobile game market, in terms of rapid expansion due to the launch of 3G services in China. Revenues from the online mobile game market in China is expected to almost triple to RMB 380 million ($55.65 million) in 2008. Mobile game companies are likely to see another wave of investment between 2008 and 2010. Buzz Inc provides Games, Ringtones and Mobile content from www.12buzz.com/mobiles/tw and will extend this service into China, also offered is the portable applications, search, email etc on www.mobicn.12buzz.com .