With the number of its Internet game players surging to 40 million, China this year is expected to see a record high of 2 billion yuan (US$0.24 billion ) in the online game business income.

Li Bo, general manager of Sichuan Tianfu gaming center, said the online game business would increase by 50 percent annually and soon exceed movie box office income in China.

According to IDC, the Chinese Internet game market size in 2001 was just 310 million yuan, and it had expanded to 910 million yuan (US$109 million) by 2002, an increase of 187.6 percent.

The Internet game business will also boost the development of the media, IT, telecommunications, publishing, retailing and other sectors. For instance, it contributed 6.83 billion yuan (US$2.03 billion) alone to the income of the Chinese telecommunications industry in 2002.

(Xinhua News Agency December 1, 2003)