When Li Nan graduated from university, he told his parents that he wanted to work in computer game development, but his parents said it would be difficult for him to support his family in the future. But this Beijing boy is lucky, because the government doesn't seem to think so. The government has even identified computer games as an important industry that needs strong support.
Therefore, the China Municipal Government funded a national-level training project-Game Academy, which benefited many game lovers all over the country, to train future game design and development talents for China.
This plan is not only to support this young industry, but also to create a certain number of employment opportunities under the serious shortage of jobs in China. Moreover, in this field with strong foreign competitors, the above plan will also train China's own game developers.
Online games are a sunrise industry in China.
Recently, the Internet game industry in China has suddenly attracted great attention, because Shanda Interactive Entertainment Co., Ltd., the largest Internet game developer in China, announced that it has acquired 9.5% of the shares of Sina/Kloc-0, a well-known domestic portal. Aside from the topic of company acquisition, Shanda's move can't help but make people think about such a question: What is the status of this online game, which is usually participated by a large number of scattered players, in China's internet economy?
Obviously, the China municipal government believes that this industry is promising.
China's Ministry of Information Industry announced last year that online games are an important sunrise industry in China, and the country needs to promote the development of game production technology. The Ministry of Information Industry urges enterprises and schools to make recruitment and training plans to ensure that the training courses provided can cultivate qualified game professionals.
Only half of the game products available in China are developed and designed by China, and most of the rest are from Japan and South Korea. Every time a foreign game is adopted, China's web portal has to pay a license fee ranging from $6,543,800 to $5 million. In addition, each authorized user has to pay an authorization fee of 654.38+0.5% ~ 30%.
The government issued policies to support the development of games.
Ted Dean, managing director of consultancy BDA, said that the game industry in China is largely occupied by imported products. While reducing the import of games, the government of China is also implementing policies to support the development of games.
The government stipulates that domestic enterprises actively participating in game development can enjoy government tax incentives and financial support, and at the same time, the government has strengthened control over foreign game developers. In 2003, the government established the Game Working Committee of China Publishers Association, and 80 enterprises joined this industry organization.
Cliff-Ford Chu and Li Xinke, investors in information technology enterprises, said that the China government hopes to maintain the growth momentum of the game industry and develop its own products under the strong offensive of Korean and Japanese products. Last year, they proposed to the government of China to start a nationwide training certification program. Chu said that the China government has provided some financial support for the project, although the government will not get any income from the project. They refused to disclose the amount of money.
The game industry urgently needs design talents.
The game industry urgently needs talented game designers. Shanda, a portal and game developer, said that it is negotiating with the Game Academy to set up an internship program. Jinshan Company has also established a system of recruiting graduates to work in the company.
At present, the online game industry in China is small. According to data provided by International Data Corporation (IDC), the total revenue last year was only $238 million. Gamers usually use prepaid game cards or online payment applications to participate in online games.
However, IDC said that the revenue scale of online game industry in China is growing rapidly, and the current level is 48.9% higher than that in 2003. IDC predicts that by 2007, the number of gamers in China will surpass that in South Korea, which ranks first at present. Last year, there were 2. 1 100 million players in China. The reason why these China people like to play games online is partly because online games don't need expensive special game machines. People without computers can still play games on their mobile phones.
For China's portals, online games may be a very growing field. Netease recently announced its performance in 2004, saying that its online game revenue in the fourth quarter reached $23.8 million, a substantial increase from13.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2003. Online game revenue accounts for 75% of the company's total revenue.
At the same time, the online game industry in China is also looking for new performance growth points. According to DBS, although "massively multiplayer" games will continue to dominate the online game market this year, the revenue growth of such games may start to decline this year. So-called casual games-such as online chess or simple multiplayer games, as well as mobile games-may eventually help to change this weak situation.
If the government can realize its vision, a large part of online games in China will be designed by China people. Li Nan, a Beijing boy mentioned before, is one of 2000 students in the Game Academy. They are all juniors or graduates in universities. At present, 42 colleges and universities in China offer game academy training courses, and students need to pay about $2,000 for the six-month training. Li Nan said that he studied very hard, and he hoped that the next sensational game would come from his own design.
He said that he hopes to design a game that everyone in China likes, which is his ideal and even his life goal.