China's online gaming market reports 32% revenue increase

China's booming online gaming market raked in 42.85 billion yuan (6.79 billion U.S. dollars) in 2011, a 32.4-percent year-on-year increase, officials said. Of the total revenue, domestically developed games took the lion's share of 63.4 percent (27.15 billion yuan), up 40.7 percent year-on-year, said Sun Shoushan, deputy head of the General Administration of Press and Publication, at an annual symposium on digital gaming. The mobile gaming industry also reported rapid growth in China, with revenues up 86.8 percent to 1.7 billion yuan in 2011, said Sun. The console gaming industry, which has faced a sluggish market in recent years due to rampant piracy and the ascendancy of online games, recorded revenues of 61 million yuan, up 301.3 percent year-on-year, as companies explored new distribution channels to boost sales. Despite hot-red growth, Sun warned of the rampant plagiarism that has plagued China's online gaming industry. He urged domestic companies to develop more original products and iconic brands. China has the world's largest online population, with its number of Internet users reaching 485 million by the end of June 2011, according to the China Internet Networks Information Center. The number is expected to exceed 600 million this year.