By Li Zhiguo
Since the beginning of 2012, China's online game publishing industry has continued to maintain wholesome development. According to industrial survey conducted by professional organizations commissioned by GPC, in the first 6 months of this year, actual sales revenue of China's PC online game market was RMB 23.55 billion Yuan, an increase of 16.9 percent compared with the same period of last year. Of this number, client online game revenue was RMB 19.73 billion Yuan, growing by 12.5 percent year on year; webpage game revenue was RMB 3.82 billion Yuan, an increase of 46.7 percent over the same period in last year. Mobile online game revenue was RMB 1.26 billion Yuan, an increase of 54.4 percent year on year.
It's noteworthy that in the first half of the year, revenue of China's original PC online games reached RMB 16.86 billion Yuan, accounting for 71.6 percent of total market revenue, about 10 percentage points higher than that in the same period of last year.
Recently, ChinaJoy 2012 opened in Shanghai. Sun Shoushan, deputy director of China's General Administration of Press and Publication, said on the concurrent 10th China International Digital Entertainment Summit that since the beginning of 2012, China's online game industry had maintained wholesome development, revenue of traditional online game was stable and growing, and sales of webpage game and mobile online games grew swiftly. In the next decade, the main task for the development of China's online game industry is to improve its innovation capability and publish more excellent works.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of ChinaJoy. The reporter learned that about 350 enterprises took part in this year's exhibition, including about 120 foreign enterprises from more than 30 countries and regions. The exhibition area was as much as 70,000 m2, with the number of visitors expected to exceed 160,000. Sun Shoushan told the reporter that in the first ChinaJoy 10 years ago, the exhibition area was merely 15,000 m2, attracting about 60,000 visitors; in this decade, China's online game publishing industry has evolved from a minor industry with a total market revenue of less than RMB 1 billion Yuan into a gigantic industry that has a direct market volume of more than RMB 40 billion Yuan, boosts revenue of more than RMB 70 billion Yuan in relevant industries such as telecommunication and media, and has more than 100 million consumers. China's original online game publishing industry, particularly, has been dominating the domestic market for 7 years in a row, its development speed and scale attracting the attention of the whole world.
Like a mirror to the development of China's online game industry, ChinaJoy clearly and objectively reflects the development pattern of China's online game industry. The rapid expansion of the scale of the exhibition, the apparent change of products structure, and the improvement of exhibition functions year after year are clear reflection of the track of growth of China's online game industry both in size and in competitiveness, the rapid improvement of the original creation capability of national online games, and the continuous enrichment of the categories of China's online game as an emerging industry.
As we cheer for the achievements, we should also realize that, under the pressure of the dual slowing down of the growths of both product revenue and market consumption, there still exist numerous problems in China's online game industry. For instance, the crisis of the inadequacy of the innovation capacity of the national online game industry is approaching; the number of excellent national original online game products that have long life cycles, good reputation, and good sales revenue is not big enough; and China's online game industry is still inferior when competing with international counterparts.
Regarding these problems, Ding Lei, CEO of NetEase, suggests that the most fundamental characteristic of the online game industry is innovation. Only by guaranteeing unceasing flow of innovation can we bring outstanding products experience to users. The slipping of the growth of the online game industry at present is an indication that bubbles are being edged out. The ten years' development of China's online game industry also suggests that enterprises should orient themselves to the needs of the users and create more excellent works for the market; anyone without innovation and excellent products will inevitably be weeded out.
Zhang Xinsheng, an inspector of the Telecommunication Administration Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, told the reporter that in recent years, thanks to the rapid development and popularization of the mobile internet, mobile phone for the first time has become the top terminal to access the internet. As of the end of June, the number of mobile phone internet users in China had reached 388 million, exceeding that of PC users that was 386 million; in this regard, the magnitude of mobile phone internet users means huge development space for the online game industry.
Sun Shoushan points out that in the next decade, the General Administration of Press and Publication will make active efforts to guide and promote the healthy development of China's online game industry. On one hand, the modification and promulgation of the Administration Rules of Online Publication Service will be accelerated, and, on that basis, the Administration By-laws of Online Games Review and Approval will also be promulgated as soon as possible, so as to improve online game approval efficiency, regulate the publication and operation order of online games, and provide policy guarantee for enterprises to create more excellent products. On the other hand, besides enhancing game approval management and carrying out rigorous online game approval standard, preferential treatment will be given to excellent products with good reputation. In addition, support to excellent domestic games and outstanding enterprises will be enhanced.
