Gaming in China is quite a serious business. As a matter of fact, it brought in an estimated US$9.7-billion in revenue in 2012, increase of  35.1% year-on-year.

Actual online game sales accounted for around 94.5% of that US$9.7-billion. On the other hand, 5.4% came from mobile game sales. Dedicated gaming services accounted for around 01.% of sales.

Indications are that  by 2017, China’s gaming market will be worth US$21.7-billion at a projected yearly growth rate of 12.4%.

China’s big online players have been working overtime at cracking the gaming sector. In August 2012 for example, Tencent coughed up US$27-million for Singapore gaming company Level Up.