China is likely to surpass the U.S. to become world's largest online game market this year, according to a recent report by market research firm iResearch.

    China's online game market generated revenue of 20.8 billion yuan ($3.04 billion) in 2008, up 52.2% over the previous year. Over 80% of the revenue came from big, multiplayer online games, with the rest generated from Web games and mobile games.

    The overall market is expected to keep growing at an average annual rate of 20% in the coming five years. And iResearch forecasts that the Chinese online market will be worth more than 68 billion yuan by 2012, which will account for almost half of the global market by then. At present, U.S., China and Korea are the world's top three largest online game markets, making up about 29%, 27% and 21% respectively of the global online game market, according to the report.

    U.S. game companies derive a major part of their revenue from sales of games overseas. South Korea's online game industry generates half of its revenue from games in its home market. In China, however, most of the money comes directly from its own game players. Negatively influenced by the global economic downturn, both the U.S. and Korea markets will see a drop in game exporting, iResearch estimates.

    In China, the enormous base and fast growing of online gamers will further boost China's online game industry, said the report.

    China is currently home to 55.5 million online game players, according to the latest stats by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC). In its report, iResearch found that figures for gamers under 18 and above 40 grew at their fastest rate yet last year, though it didn't disclose specifics.

    根据市场研究公司艾瑞（iResearch）最近公布的一份报告，中国有可能在今年超过美国，成为全球最大的网络游戏市场。

    中国网络游戏市场2008年创造了人民币208亿元（30.4亿美元）的收入，较上年增长了52.2%。80%以上的收入来自多玩家参与的大型网络游戏，其余来自网页游戏和移动游戏。

    未来五年，整个游戏市场预计将以年均20%的速度增长。艾瑞预计，到2012年中国网络游戏市场总规模将超过人民币680亿元，届时将占全球市场将近一半的份额。艾瑞的报告显示，目前，美国、中国和韩国是全球前三位的网络游戏市场，分别占据29%、27%和21%的全球市场份额。

    美国游戏公司的很大一部分收入来自在海外销售游戏。韩国网络游戏行业收入的一半来自本土市场。而中国的网络游戏收入绝大部分直接来自国内的游戏玩家。艾瑞预计，由于受到全球经济低迷的负面影响，美国和韩国市场都将出现游戏出口下滑。

    报告称，中国拥有巨大的网络游戏玩家群体，其人数还在不断增长，这将进一步推动中国网络游戏行业的发展。

    据中国互联网络信息中心公布的最新数据，中国目前有5,550万网络游戏玩家。艾瑞在报告中指出，18岁以下和40岁以上的游戏玩家人数去年增长速度最快，但没有披露具体细节。