Visitors have 'close encounter' with 5G at China Joy

According to iResearch Consulting Group, a market research company, the Chinese VR industry will see a compound average growth rate of 80 percent by 2022.

The total market value of the Chinese VR industry will be 79 billion yuan ($11 billion) by 2022, according to International Data Syndicate, a market research firm. The annual expenditure on offline VR experience venues, or zones, would be 10 billion yuan by 2023, the IDC said.

A VR experience zone offers a dedicated space installed with VR motion tracking sensors placed in the corners of the zone. Users can wear head-mounted devices to gain experience to feel and use VR technology.

Despite their promising outlook, VR devices are hardly seen in most of the families, be it in China or other countries. "The limited content available on VR devices is one major obstacle," said Wang.

Online games account for a big chunk of the market, while most VR games are still stand-alone games. "VR devices installed with 5G modules will be cheaper and find their way into families," said Wang.

There would be larger experience venues covering more than 1,000 square meters, allowing at least 30 people to engage in VR games simultaneously.

"The most popular online multiplayer battle games will be moved to VR devices, in which players can simulate battlefield with all kinds of body movements, such as crouching, running and jumping. It will offer an unprecedented gaming experience," he said.

As chipmaker Intel has predicted, the application of 5G technology will bring in an additional revenue of $1.3 trillion to the media and entertainment companies all over the world by 2028.

More than 77 percent of this amount will come through earnings made by the 5G-enhanced gaming industry, which will include a large number of hardware game devices by then, the company said.

On June 6, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology granted commercial 5G licenses to State-owned China Broadcasting Network Corp and three major telecommunication carriers: China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom.

Gong Qiao, CEO of Beijing Chukong Technology, said that new forms of games will take shape in the age of 5G. Different devices will be able to interact with each other eventually. More important, the integration between games and TV series or movies will also happen.

"The company that excels in providing content, including games, entertainment and even search results, is likely to grow into a new industry leader," he said.