Liu Yuzhu, director of the Ministry of Culture's Cultural Market Department, speaking recently at a workshop of the First China International Exposition on Online Culture, said that China's online game industry has enormous market potential.

In 2002, the online game industry pocketed 910 million yuan (about US$ 110 million), compared to 310 million yuan (about US$37.34 million) in 2001, with the number of online game players in 2002 doubling from four million of the previous year. Additionally, in 2001, each of local online game players spent 15.6 yuan (about US$1.88) per month, while in 2002, the spending reached 18.8 yuan (about US$2.27).