Baidu Enters the Gaming Industry

Yesterday, a reporter learned from a person close to Baidu's senior management that in recent days, Baidu has been secretly planning to enter the online game operation market and will soon launch several online games operated by it. Industry insiders commented that if the news is true, it means that the three largest companies in terms of market value in China's Internet industry - Baidu, Tencent, and Alibaba - have already touched the online game market in their own ways.

In fact, Chinese Internet companies with an "online game" complex are not only Baidu. Apart from professional game companies like Shanda, The9, and Lianzhong, Tencent has long become a big "player" in China's gaming market by building and operating a casual gaming platform. It is particularly noteworthy that although Alibaba's CEO Jack Ma repeatedly said he would "not invest a penny in games," according to data analysis, nearly one-third of the daily transactions on its C2C website Taobao are related to virtual items and point cards for games.

"If Baidu also joins the game camp, it means that the highest market value Baidu, Tencent, and Alibaba in China will battle in this already competitive field, which will inevitably have a significant impact on the industrial pattern." Industry experts pointed out: "According to research, the scale of China's online game market was 12.8 billion yuan in 2007, and in the next 4-5 years, the market will continue to grow at more than 20%, reaching 40.1 billion yuan by 2011."

Experts pointed out that such a broad market space attracts many Internet companies to dig gold in the gaming field, and Baidu, with a market share of 74.5% and covering nearly 90% of Chinese netizens, has great advantages in brand influence, user resources, and product promotion capabilities. Coupled with its technical and service strength recognized by the industry, "this move into game operations may allow Baidu to catch up later."