The number of online gamers in China rose 23 percent to 40.17 million last year, according to an industry survey.

Regular subscribers comprised 22.36 million of the total, up 30
percent from 2006, said the survey, which was released on Wednesday at
an annual gaming industry conference held in Suzhou City of Jiangsu
Province. The survey was jointly conducted by the committee on gaming
work of the Publishers Association of China and IDC, a US-based
technology analysis firm.

Sales of online games in China topped 10.57 billion yuan (US$1.45 billion) last year, up 61.5 percent.

Industry analysts estimate that China’s online gaming population
will hit 84.56 million by 2012, with regular subscribers totaling 50
million and sales of 26.23 billion yuan.

Via China Daily