GameGlance represents the fastest growing gaming segment on the planet. Asia is where the future of gaming will be, if not by anything else then just by sheer numbers alone. The Yankee Group was recently quoted in an article on eMarketer as to their prediction of in-game advertising short-term revenue prospects.

They predicted that by 2009, the in-game advertising industry will be worth some $562.5 million dollars. Their research also indicated that in 2006, in-game advertising revenue will surpass that of advergames. This is supported by Kagan Research’s estimates that 54 million households will have a game console by 2010.

Those figures say nothing about China. It is well known that China is the world’s most populous country, with 1.3 billion people. Roughly 500 million live in cities where they have cheap and easy access to online games via Internet cafes. These cafes don’t just have a dozen computer lined up with casual users surfing while they sip coffee. No, China’s Internet cafes are dead serious. Many of them are movie theater sized venues with just as many computer terminals as there are seats in your favorite theater.

An estimated 22.9 million people play online games in China, according to a 2004 study. They spent more than US$500m on online games. PricewaterhouseCoopers has said the Asia-Pacific region could be expected to have the fastest growth in spending on video games. Their findings also state that China would overtake Japan as the region’s biggest market by 2008.

In its latest forecast, DFC Intelligence – a market research firm, estimates that the online game market will reach sales of $9.8 billion by 2009.