Online players hit new high

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THE number of Chinese online game players has surged to a new high after the upgrading of China's broadband speed and Internet service, the world's major game maker said yesterday.

More younger players, especially students, are taking part in online games in China, Alex Tai, managing director of Blizzard China, said at the sideline of the world championship series of "StarCraft II" in Shanghai.

"China has developed a good environment for online games as many foreign games are introduced and also due to the fast development of broadband service," Tai said.

There are 120 million online game players in the country, up 4.6 percent from last year. The mainland has 538 million Internet users.

The value of online games has hit 55.7 billion yuan (US$8.89 billion) on the mainland, up 20 percent annually, Analysys International said.

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