The People's Republic will boast in excess of 230 million games players by 2012, the experts at Analysys International have forecast.

Apparently, by this point the will be worth a whopping 10.7 billion USD annually - with growth coming as China's middle classes expand, and the existing online population of 27 percent grows.

This year, the business in is worth 3.8 billion USD, and it is expected that the genre will exceed growth of 40 percent for the next three years.

The 230 million number is a massive leap, the current total said to be 69 million. More as we get it. Thanks Edge.

By Luke Guttridge