Online Gaming Continues To Soar In China

Thanks to EvilAvatar for linking to a ChinaDaily.com article discussing the further rise of online gaming in China. According to the story, "the All China Sports Federation recently recognised video gaming as a sanctioned sport", and it's also noted that "the China Center of Information Industry Development (CCID) estimates that there were 19 million online gamers in China at the end of 2003. This year the number of users is predicted to explode to 32 million and will continue growing to 48 million by 2005." Notably, it's also revealed that China's leading MMO title, "The Legend of Mir II has an estimated 250,000 to 300,000 ACUs [Average Concurrent Users], attracting some 650,000 simultaneous users during peak times. The [Chinese distribution] firm's owner, Chen Tianqiao, is listed as China's second richest IT entrepreneur, with a cool RMB 4 billion [$500 million] in the bank."

MIR payment model

[Anonymous Coward]

I had a chance to go to asia this past summer, and i watched my cousin play Mir. He explained the payment model he used to subscribe to me which I though was quite interesting. Like in the states, he could purchase game passes at stores, and with the passes he was allowed to logon to the game servers a certain number of times, regardless of the length of time he played. apprently the cards are common enough that they can be picked up in the local 7-11.