Mobile gamers to soon exceed PC players in China - study

Newsbrief: The number of mobile gamers in China will reach 192 million this year, and no clear market leader has yet to emerge and dominate the local industry, according to a new study. Asian market research firm Niko Partners says the country's mobile games market is wide open for companies to come in and find success. It adds that the space's growth will only continue thanks to the rising adoption of 3G usage and soaring sales of smartphones. The group notes in its "China's Mobile Games Market 2012" report that the country's mobile gamers will soon outnumber PC online gamers (Niko did not provide data for the number of PC gamers in China). Niko also expects China's annual mobile game revenues to increase six-fold over the next 5 years to $3.6 billion. It points out that core-targeted mobile games are showing early promise in the country, too.