Nation's mobile gaming industry heading to top of league

Founded in 2009, SuperData covers free-to-play and digital games. By collaborating with publishers and game developers, SuperData analyzes market changes, establishes revenue estimates and identifies key developments for popular online games.

Asian games research firm Niko Partners recently released a report estimating that the Chinese personal computer-based online gaming market would double by 2018.

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"Investors are embracing the mobile games space in China, but there is still a lot of life left in PC online games, and now the exciting market of consoles, too," said Lisa Cosmas Hanson, managing partner at Niko.

On April 29 in Shanghai, Microsoft Corp announced plans to roll out its Xbox One flagship gaming consoles in China later this year.

Van Dreunen said Xbox One in China would have to compete with the existing standard bearer-PC/mobile gaming.

"With the exception of Japan, most Asian markets do not have a significant physical retail game market," said van Dreunen. "Furthermore, the free-to-play monetization model originates in Asia, which means that Chinese gamers are more accustomed to it. There does exist an affluent top layer in Chinese society that, no doubt, will want to have access to console gaming."

"However, the incumbent model of PC/mobile gaming in China, and the existence of a large installed base of pirated consoles, tells us that it will take some time," he said.

The videogame industry in China generated revenue of $13 billion last year, a 38 percent jump year-on-year, according to a January report from BBC News.