China online games do $1.5bn in sales in 2007

Sales in Chinese online games sector reached US$1.5 billion for 2007, an increase of 61.5% over 2006, according to a report by the Publishers Association of China and IDC, China Business Net reported (in Chinese). According to the report, the number of online games users in China rose by 23% from 2006 to reach 40 million at the end of last year, of which paying users accounted for 22 million. The online gaming sector has attracted the attention of global venture capitalists, which invested US$77 million in the sector during the first nine months of 2007, almost four times the amount invested in all of 2006.