Grey theory analysis of online population and online game industry revenue in Taiwan

This study examines the relationship between the number of Internet users and the amount of online game revenues in Taiwan. We collected the number of Internet users, online game players, and revenues of Taiwan's online game industry during the period of 2003–2010 for analysis. The grey forecasting GM(1,1) model, a simple analysis method, was used to predict the growth trend of these three values, and to examine the relationships among them. The results indicate that there is still room for Taiwan's online game industry to expand its customer base and thus increase future revenues. The findings can help to understand supply and demand in Taiwan's online games market, and provide a reference for both academics and practitioners. Since the Greater China area, including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and Mainland China, has a similar culture and also a huge potential market, the research results in this paper may be helpful for international game companies interested in entering or expanding in this market.

► Explores the potential relationship between online population and game industry revenue.
► Applied grey system theory to analyze future development has good results even without enough clean data.
► We present a supply and demand principle in online game market.
► Discussion on online game industry how to attract more potential Internet users in the future.