Chinese mobile game market up 91% in 2012 to over $500 million

Predicted to hit $2 billion by 2015

Mobile games only make up a small slice of the Chinese games market. But it's the fastest growing sector with growth during 2012 estimated at 91 percent.

In contrast, the growth rate of the overall games sector, as detailed in the China Game Industry Report 2012, was 35 percent.

In terms of value, it's calculated that the sales of mobile games accounted for RMB 3.2 billion (over $500 million) during the year.

That works out at 5.4 percent of the $9.7 billion (RMB 60 billion) Chinese games market, which is dominated by online games (94.5 percent), with retail console games accounting for a mere 0.1 percent.

Bigger, better

Figures from Beijing-based company iResearch suggest that 2013 will continue that momentum.

It predicts the Chinese mobile games market will be worth around $850 million (around RMB 5.2 billion), up 70 percent compared to 2012.

If fulfilled, this would see China accounting for around 15 percent of the global mobile games market of $5 billion.

Significantly, western-developed games such as Angry Birds, Cut the Rope and Fruit Ninja dominate its paid charts.

Further estimates suggest that by 2015, China could make up 20 percent of the world market, worth $2.2 billion.

[source: Technode]

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