Gamastura reported today that Pearl Research’s new “Games Market in China” report forecasts the online games market in China will exceed $5.5 billion in 2012. The market grew more than 63% to reach $2.8 billion in 2008. According to Pearl Research:

Many Chinese game operators continue to be optimistic in 2009, stating that the worldwide economic downturn has had little effect on their business. Games constitute a small-ticket item and users have not cut back as much on this type of discretionary spending.