"Online gaming utilizes a pay-per-use business model, pointing to the huge revenues generated by the service providers," said Chin Jun-Fwu, software research analyst at International Data Corp. (IDC).

"Game merchandisers are also cashing in on the popularity of game characters," Chin said, adding that there was even talk of building theme parks based on Internet games in North Asia.

In 2002, the Asia-Pacific online gaming market was valued at 533 million dollars in terms of subscriptions, IDC said in a report covering seven economies -- South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia.

"The subscription revenue indicated that online gamers willingly forked out money to play on the Internet with other games," IDC said.

Playing games in cyberspace is most popular in South Korea, which accounted for 54 percent of the region's online gaming market, followed by Taiwan whose share is estimated at nearly 26 percent.

SPACE.WIRE