China’s game market soared to $18.5 billion in 2014

China’s game industry saw rapid growth in 2014, rising 37.3 percent to $18.5 billion.

With over 517 million gamers, China’s market is second only to the U.S. in terms of earnings. A report released by Xinhua News Agency showed that a boom in mobile gaming — thanks to increased smartphone penetration — helped drive impressive growth of around $5 billion from 2013. For comparison, the U.S. industry is worth an estimated $20.5 billion this year.