South East Asian online market growing fast

A study by research firm Niko Partners has estimated the South East Asian online games market to be worth $917 million by the end of 2010, growing to $1.7 billion by 2014.

The report is intended to illustrate South East Asia's echoing of China's adoption of online gaming by highlighting the 14 per cent year-on-year rise in the market value of online games in the territory.

Of the seven countries which formed the basis of the report, Vietnam and Taiwan are believed to hold the largest share of the market, although Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore are showing signs of healthy growth, too. The figures of $917 million and $1.7 billion also include numbers for Taiwan.

"As a result of researching the South East Asian markets as well as Taiwan, we recognise that China has influenced the online game industry throughout Asia, and in some countries that influence has been quite important," said Niko Partners Lisa Cosmas Hanson.

Last month, Niko Partners told GamesIndustry.biz that China was moving away from hardcore, traditional MMOs, into a more casual space - and that casual gaming could make up as much as 23 per cent of the overall online gaming market in China by 2014.