Consumer China

Games battle for gold coins

  • Published 17 Apr 2009

China's online games industry is looking set to continue strong growth in 2009, though some listed companies are looking more vulnerable than others.

Beijing says games are good...Online games don't immediately strike you as something that Beijing's paternalistic government would wish to promote. For one thing, they stand accused by many parents of diverting their children from their studies (indeed, most players are students, and some 40% of players spend between three to six hours a day playing games). Secondly, the pairing of male and female players online – in games such as Audition (operated by 9You) and Hot Dance Party (operated by Perfect World) – are resulting in an offline surge in teenage sexual liaisons. Thirdly, a trade in virtual items ranging from 'gold coins' to magic swords and in-game property rights has created a largely unregulated, untaxed shadow economy worth well in excess of an estimated Rmb 10bn ($1.46bn, €1.11bn, £980m) a year in China.

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