Gamers get ready for complex new world of fun

Being among the first batch of Chinese people who subscribed to the fourth generation (4G) telecom network services, Sun Xiang, a student at Peking University, said he is searching for more complicated, exciting and funnier mobile games.

Plants vs Zombies, Angry Birds and Fishing Joy were once Sun's favorites. "Those games are for casual entertainment. When I was waiting in subways, or felt tired of study and wanted to find something to help me relax, I used to play those mobile games," Sun said.

However, Sun, who loved to get involved in more demanding games, such as those often found on Microsoft Xbox, or Sony Corp's PlayStation game consoles, expected more from his smartphone. "Sometimes, I really wanted to kick off a World of Warcraft competition on the mobile phone. That would be cool."

The commercial rollout of 4G services could help Chinese people such as Sun to realize their dreams of playing complicated games on smartphones, according to Michael Chen, chief executive officer of iDreamsky Technology, a Chinese mobile game publisher.

"Currently, mobile games in China often use limited data suitable for 2G and 3G wireless networks," Chen said. But the introduction of the 4G network allows faster transmission speeds and larger data traffic flows, so the technology may create a significant change in the nation's mobile gaming industry.

"Games can be bigger and equipped with fantastic images and audio in the 4G environment," Chen said. Moreover, mobile games are very much likely to have real-time online interaction among players and players are wired anywhere, so long as they are holding a mobile device, he added.

Since the speed of the 4G network is more than 10 times faster than that of 3G, players will not care about the size of game packages. "That means game developers are free to expand, upgrade and optimize game content. It will help lengthen a mobile game's life span," said Cao Tong, chief executive officer of Zhidian3g Media Group.

However, concerns still exist. Li Qiang, founder of Nuts Power Technology Ltd, said the fast development of China's more complex mobile phone games depends on 4G telecom service charges and the penetration rate of 4G services. "Only if Chinese users regard 4G fees as acceptable and are willing to apply for the services can complicated mobile phone games really take off," Li said.

In 2013, China's gaming market gained sales of 83.2 billion yuan ($13.63 billion), a jump of 38 percent year-on-year. Among them, the mobile gaming sector gained revenues of 11.2 billion yuan, rising by 247 percent over the previous year.

Lin Qi, chief executive officer of Shanghai Youzu Information Technology Co, a developer of mobile games, said the technology improvement will lift the threshold of China's online gaming market and intensify industry competition.

"Without abundant capital and human resources, it is quite hard for enterprises to make money in the online gaming sector. Meanwhile, deep experience is required for running a good firm," Lin said.

Kuang Xiaohui, chief information officer of Guangzhou Yinhan Technology Co Ltd, a gaming subsidiary of Chinese movie producer Huayi Brothers Media Group, said his company will not pursue product quantity, but rather concentrate on quality.

"We see numerous mobile gaming products in today's market. However, for powerful companies, they can only maintain their dominant positions by continuously launching flagship games," Kuang said.