China's Internet users just not game

Beijing - Although China has the second largest number of Internet users in the world, it lags behind even Taiwan when it comes to online games, an industry analyst said Wednesday.

China's online games market recorded total revenue of 159.7 million dollars last year, according to consulting firm IDC.

That puts it behind Taiwan, although China has four times as many Internet users - nearly 80 million - as Taiwan has people.

However, China's online games market grew 46 percent in 2003 and is likely to continue expanding rapidly to overtake first Taiwan and then South Korea to become the Asia-Pacific's largest market within the next three years, IDC said.

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