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In This Issue

+ Top Chinese Game Operators Grow Revenues up 18% Quarter-over-Quarter (QoQ) and 79% Year-over-Year (YoY)
+ Trends to Watch in 2009
+ Business and Networking Events in Seattle and Beijing
+ Available Pearl Research studies

Top 5 Chinese Games Operators Grow Revenues 18% QoQ
The Chinese online games market has proven to be resilient in the latter half of 2008 but the outlook for 2009 remains uncertain. Revenues for the top five game publishers Shanda, Tencent, NetEase, The9 and Perfect World were up 18% quarter-over-quarter and 79% year-over-year. These five companies generated a combined $xxxx million in Q3 2008.

The overall market grew due the appreciation of the Chinese currency against the US dollar, strong new releases such as Tencent’s Dungeon and Fighter, and expansion pack updates for popular titles such as Sohu’s TLBB. The online game publishers that under-performed cited factors such as the seasonal impact of school summer holidays, lack of new releases, the Beijing 2008 Olympics, pirate servers and the negative effect of the global financial crisis.

This is excerpted from Pearl Research's latest brief. Contact us at research (at) pearlresearch.com with any questions.

January 2009 Newsletter

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Trends to Watch in 2009

We've put together a poster of trends to watch in 2009 including deep personalization, emerging markets and micro-transactions.



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Studies and Updates

i. Emerging Markets: Online Games Market in Vietnam and Korea Available Now

Click here for a table of contents of our Korean digital entertainment study, available now. This study tracks emerging trends, identifies any opportunities for international companies and examine lessons learned from the world’s most dynamic digital entertainment market.

This comprehensive study contains an executive summary, market forecasts up to 2011, deep marketplace analysis, company profiles and strategic recommendations.

For the Vietnam table of contents, visit this link: http://www.pearlresearch.com/files/Sample_PearlResearch_OnlineGamesVietnam_0811_TOC.pd

Networking Events in Seattle and Shanghai

Pearl Research is pleased to partner with these events:

LOGIN Conference, Seattle, May 2009: This annual conference hosted in Seattle each May brings together industry leaders to discuss, collaborate, and share advancements about technology, design, business, community and legal areas of online game development. Sponsorship opportunities are available and the Website's URL is: http://www.loginconference.com

LOGIN 2009 features three and a half days of online game development lectures, panels, and roundtables, renowned local and international industry speakers, facilitated networking activities, parties, keynote lunches, meetings and an exhibition area.

China Game Licensing and Investment Forum, Shanghai, April 2009
“China Game Licensing and Investment Forum 2009”, a B2B event, will be held in Shanghai, China in April 2009. The B2B event is a platform for Chinese online and casual game developers to present their products in front of China’s top publishers and investors to make licensing and investment deals.

Previous participants of the event include all major Chinese online game publishers such as Giant, Tencent, and Shanda. Online and casual game developers from around the world who have products they want to license to China are welcome to participate. For more info about the event, please contact Mr. Zhan Ye at zhanye (at) gamevisiongroup.com.

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