Peter Vesterbacka, whose company Rovio makes the immensely popular game Angry Birds, says that console games are "dying", but games on smartphones and tablet computers also face a crisis in China - from pirates.

The latest statistics by IIMEDIA Marketing Consultation Group show that China had a domestic mobile Internet market worth 10.8 billion yuan ($1.7 billion) in the third quarter of this year, and the mobile games industry contributed 10.3 percent of the figure.

But it also noted that only 1.4 percent of the mobile games used in China are legal versions.

On Apple's iOS platform, more than 20 percent of game software in use in China is copycat versions of the originals. On phones with the Android operating system, the rate is nearly 40 percent, according to IIMEDIA's research.

"There are two trends that are hindering the development of mobile phone games," said Hong Tao, the founder of the Shenzhen-based game developer Taole Technology. "The first is like group purchasing, with a lot of companies flocking together to develop very similar games.

"The second is piracy," he said. "No matter who has designed a new mobile phone game, and no matter if it is interesting or not, it can be found on the Internet for free download."

A popular mobile game does not usually lead to high profits for developers because it will be soon copied or imitated by many other game makers. Even players are often confused which is the original.

One of the major reasons that few game developers go to court to protect their rights is the high cost of litigation and low monetary awards even in winning cases.

"Most mobile game developers have limited financial capacity", said IT columnist Zhang Shuping. "In addition, it is not easy to find every one of the many infringers."

A lawsuit also often takes longer than the lifespan of a mobile game on the market, according to Zhang, so even if the game developer wins the case, it looses profits.

"As a result, it has to just ignore piracy and compete with the pirates for bigger market share," he said.

Zhao Zhanling, an IT law expert and chief advisor at chinaweblaw.com, said China needs a number of "typical, influential cases" to promote awareness of intellectual property rights among mobile game developers. As well, copyright authorities should "strengthen their enforcement power", he said.

IIMEDIA called for the mobile phone application market to improve regulation and examination systems to secure the rights of game developers. It also suggested that game companies develop various derivatives to diversify profit sources.

China Daily

(China Daily 12/07/2011 page17)