Author: Pearl Research

San Francisco, CA, March 31, 2006 - The games market in China is expected to surpass $760 million in 2006 with 95% of revenues derived from the booming online games segment. These findings are contained in a report released by San Francisco-based Pearl Research, a leading business intelligence and consulting firm that specializes in the interactive entertainment and games market.

Allison Luong, Managing Director of Pearl Research, commented, "The Chinese online games market is expected to cross the $1 billion mark by 2009, driven by the launch of innovative and compelling content, the addition of new Internet users and a growing casual games market."

Other key findings include:

- China has a large untapped games market with less than 3% of the population (25 million) playing games and 9% (111 million) using the Internet. Growing affluence tied to China's booming economy has resulted in an expanding middle-class with discretionary income to spend on entertainment and online services. By 2010, Pearl Research expects China to be a top-ten worldwide games market.

- The rapid adoption of the Internet is helping to fuel the growth of the online games market in China, with 111 million Internet users in 2005, up from 52 million in 2002. Nearly 56% of Internet access is via broadband.

The "Games Market in China: Opportunities and Challenges" market brief contains an executive summary of the games market in China; discussion of the growing middle class; key metrics such as the size of the online games market in China, number and growth in Internet users and broadband penetration; rankings of top publishers and titles; inhibitors and drivers to the growth of online games; a discussion of the packaged PC and console market; and challenges and opportunities. To inquire about this market brief, please call (+1) 415-566-8509 or email [email protected].

About Pearl Research

Pearl Research, a business intelligence and consulting firm, specializes in the interactive entertainment and games market with a special focus on the Asia-Pacific region. Based in San Francisco, Pearl Research covers major markets such as China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, India and Southeast Asia. Pearl Research provides its clients access to a vast knowledge base of market research information. The company publishes in-depth research reports and provides customized research and consulting services.

Pearl Research's publishing schedule for 2006 includes "Online Games Market in India" market brief and full-scale reports on the games market in Taiwan and South Korea. For more information, please visit www.pearlresearch.com or contact us at [email protected] or call (+1) 415-566-8509.

Contact

Allison Luong

Managing Director

[email protected]

(+1) 415-566-8509