CHINA'S online game revenue will grow 30 percent this year due to an increase in the number of domestically developed games, industry regulators said yesterday during a game forum in Shanghai.

China's online game revenue will grow about 30 percent this year after reaching 25.6 billion yuan (US$3.76 billion) in 2009, said Sun Shoushan, vice director of the General Administration of Press and Publication.

Last year, domestically developed game revenue reached 16.5 billion yuan, accounting for 64 percent of sales in the sector.

Domestically developed game revenue is expected to grow more than 50 percent this year, 20 percentage points higher than the whole sector, Sun told the China Digital Entertainment Summit held yesterday in Shanghai.

"Now we have a strong game industry with research ability and great potential," Sun said. "We aim to become a global game research base in future."

The regulator's words contradicted an industry report saying that the high growth rate for China's online game firms had passed.

China's online game market posted the first slowdown in revenue growth in more than a year in the second quarter. Domestic game revenue was 7.34 billion yuan, up 8.8 percent from a year ago, compared with an annual 21.4 percent increase in the first quarter, according to Shanghai-based iResearch Inc.

The summit was a part of Chinajoy 2010, or China Digital Entertainment Expo and Conference. The country's biggest annual game fair is scheduled to open today.

Top firms, including Shanda Games, Tencent and Perfect World echoed GAPP's opinion that it was crucial to invest in research and development.

"We have always insisted on investing in research since the company was founded in 2006 and we will continue to do so," said Chi Yufeng, founder and chief executive of Nasdaq-listed Perfect World.

Tencent, now the country's No. 1 game firm, will cooperate with top overseas game studios to co-develop products in future, said Ren Yuxin, Tencent's game division president.