China's online gaming industry grows in 2011

China's online gaming industry reported total revenues of 46.85 billion yuan (7.44 billion US dollars) in 2011, up 34.4 percent year-on-year, according to a government report issued Friday.

The total number of people playing online games last year totaled 160 million, a year-on-year increase of 33 percent, said a report issued by the Ministry of Culture.

Online gaming companies maintained favorable momentum last year thanks to a continuously growing number of gamers and the rapid development of mobile phone games, the report said.

More and more people tended to play games on their mobile phones. Among the gamers, more than 50 million logged on through their mobile phones, up 46 percent over 2010.

Exports of domestic computer games also increased by 76 percent from 2010 to reach 403 million U.S. dollars in 2011, the report said.

More than 150 Chinese computer games have been sold abroad and 92 of them were developed in 2011, it said.

The ministry has pledged to improve gaming industry regulations this year. The administration will work on more detailed rules to manage and protect the virtual assets of gamers, the report said.

The administration will also continue working with service providers and operators to allow parents or guardians to supervise underage gamers, it said.

The ministry will continue to work on a real-name registration system for gamers and carry on with its campaign against games with inappropriate content, it said.