China invests big in MMOGs

News - $1.8 billion to be precise

The latest reports tell us that currently the Chinese online gaming genre accounts for some twenty-million players, a total growing exponentially on a daily basis. Whilst online gaming has already become one of the booming nation's favourite pastimes then, there has been concern within the government that too many of the top online games are imports; foreign influences blamed for a number of social problems in the People's Republic. Now, China has announced expansive plans to invest some 15 billion Yuan (about £1 billion) to encourage the development of home-grown online entertainment. Simultaneous with this investment, however, China will impose stricter access controls, especially upon those under 18 years old.

Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou will be the cities benefiting the most from the new investment - urban areas have sprung-up as the location of most online gamers anyway, as these are the areas growing fastest as part of the booming Chinese economy. Between ten and thirty online game companies should be created as part of the investment over the next three years, and as many as one-hundred new MMOG titles could be ready within five years.

China's online population of 100 million is expected to outstrip the USA's 185 million within the next few years, and online games are at the forefront of this revolution - titles like World of Warcraft attracting upwards of 1.5 million subscribers in the country, despite only launching a few months ago. Everquest 2 will enter beta testing in China soon - as Sony look to carve their slice of the action. Despite the concern of foreign influences, China's communist government does already insist that firm's partner with local companies to deliver games to China, and this results in much of the investment remaining in Chinese hands.

Meanwhile, new laws noting recent online-gaming related killings are also being shaped, in order to bring this burgeoning business under tighter government control. "Minors should not be allowed to play online games that have player killing content," stated the Ministry of Culture's Internet Culture chief Liu Shifa. "Online games that have PK content usually also contain acts of violence and leads to players spending too much time trying to increase the power of their characters. They are harmful to young people." Legally enforceable age restrictions are planned to help the authorities regulate the industry.