The Chinese online gaming industry is expected to develop rapidly with sales income increasing 30-50 percent this year, a senior official said on Wednesday.

Sun Shoushan, deputy director of the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP), said the sales this year were forecast to be 24 billion to 27 billion yuan (US$3.51 billion - US$3.95 billion), which would bring about 67 billion yuan in incomes for telecommunications, IT and other related industries.

The official made the remarks at a forum during the seventh session of the China Digital Entertainment Expo and Conference (Chinajoy), the country's largest game convention.

He said the online gaming industry showed great potential in independent research and development.

China had 131 online game research and development companies with 24,768 R&D professionals by the end of last year, who independently developed 286 online games last year, representing a14.4 percent growth, he said.

The sales of domestic-made online games were 11 billion yuan in2008, up 60 percent from the previous year, accounting for 59.9 percent of the country's online gaming market, he added.

The sales of the online gaming industry totaled 18.38 billion yuan last year, posting a 76.6 percent year-on-year increase. The industry brought about 47.84 billion yuan for the industries of telecommunications and IT.

(Xinhua News Agency July 23, 2009)