According to new figures from iResearch, the online gaming market in China is expected to grow by 28 percent over the next 12 months, with revenues reaching $970 million. This would put China slightly ahead of Korea's $960 million in online game revenues. 

Much of this is attributed to the ever-growing MMO business with titles like Blizzard's World of Warcraft continuing to bring in new subscribers and Chinese gamers are increasingly playing online casual titles as well.

It's also important to recognize the contribution of the rapid expansion of Internet use in China. Another report from eMarketer, China Online, delves into the incredible potential for the online market in the country. There were more than 111 million Internet users in China during 2005, and that number is expected to exceed 180 million by year 2010.

There are still some barriers to this growth, however. While Chinese gamers are used to paying to play games at Internet cafes, paying for games over the web from home, and e-commerce in general has been slow on the uptake largely because of users' aversion to credit cards.

"... in spite of a red-hot economy, growing e-commerce in China has proved to be slow going. A huge target of Internet users alone is not enough. Because the use of credit cards is not widespread, the simple act of paying for goods online is still a barrier e-tailers must overcome," explains China Online author James Belcher.