Computer game sales hit $9.7 billion

Sales of computer games in China hit 60.5 billion yuan ($9.7 billion) during the first half of 2015, a 21.9 percent jump compared to the same period last year.

The figures were released by Sun Shoushan, vice-minister of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Film and Television, on Wednesday at the China Joy Exhibition 2015 in Shanghai.

About 44 percent of the sales were software products bought by consumers for terminals, while 34.6 percent were mobile games. Web games accounted for 17 percent of the market while social media games had a 4.2 percent share. Single-player games accounted for 0.1 percent.

From January to June, sales of online games independently produced by Chinese companies reached 45.8 billion yuan, a 33.3 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

In the last six months, 355 online games were approved by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, among which, more than 88 percent were independently developed by Chinese companies. Meanwhile, export volume of independently produced online games was $1.76 billion, up 121.4 percent compared to the same period last year.