These are the findings of a study sponsored by Netherlands-based payment services provider GlobalCollect and released by Newzoo, an international market research firm.
According to research, 80 percent of Korean gamers play games using a mobile device, while 85 percent of Chinese game players are drawn by casual game websites and games on social networks.
The same study indicates that Korean gamers are more reluctant than the Chinese ones in terms of costs. In Korea, 52 percent of gamers have never paid for games, whereas in China, the percentage of those who have not spent money on games reaches 36.
According to the Newzoo study, the two markets also have different preferences when it comes to payment methods. Most Korean prefer to pay via mobile or credit cards, as compared to Chinese gamers who choose online or prepaid payment alternatives.
With regard to demographics, the study has shown that over 40 percent of total gamers are female in both countries (43 percent in China and 41 percent in Korea). In terms of age, 71 percent of Chinese gamers are young, as compared to only 35.65 percent of Korean young players.
The study has also analyzed the social gaming networks from China and Korea. According to the results, almost 50 percent of Chinese internet users spend their time on social networks and more than one third is spent on playing games. Almost 45 percent of the 125 million Chinese social gamers also spend money for this activity. In Korea, only 20 percent of users spend time on social networks and 15 percent of them play games with a group of 8 million gamers who normally pay for them.
In terms of mobile gaming, only 12 percent of the overall amount spent on games is made via mobile devices. In China the share is higher due to an increasing number of gamers.
The study focused on the active internet users of 190 million Chinese and 26 million Korean consumers aged between 15 and 50.
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