Market research firm Analysys International has published its report on China's online game market in the first quarter of 2009, which states the revenue of China's online game market reached CNY5.514 billion, an increase of 8.3% compared with the previous quarter.

According to the monitoring statistics from the company, the market scale growth during the first three months of 2009 is mainly attributed to the growth of online game users.

For the market structure of Chinese online game operators, Shanda, Tencent, and NetEase.com were the top three operators by revenue. Shanda continued to occupy the first place with revenue of CNY1.08 billion and 19.6% market share, followed by Tencent with revenue of CNY910 million and 16.5% share, and NetEase.com with revenue of CNY710 million and 12.9% market share.

With regards to other online game operators in China, The9's revenue decreased by 6% compared with the previous quarter, falling from the fourth place to the fifth while Changyou.com, the online game subsidiary of Sohu.com, placed fourth with total revenue of CNY420 million.