article: They need new content to feed their 560 million avid gamers, who contribute to the biggest gaming market in the world - worth an estimated $24.4bn (Â£19.8bn) in 2016, according to Newzoo. And this market is growing at around 15% a year. Chinese firms have already spent more than $111bn on foreign acquisitions this year, according to Dealogic, with some of the biggest deals involving gaming companies. Internet giant Tencent - which owns the WeChat and QQ Games platforms - bought Finnish Clash of Clans mobile games maker Supercell for $8.6bn earlier this year. Tencent already owns League of Legends maker Riot Games, and has minority stakes in Epic Games and Activision Blizzard, the World of Warcraft maker. Activision itself bought Candy Crush Saga maker King Digital Entertainment for nearly $6bn last year. Chinese online games publisher Youzu Interactive snapped up German free-to-play games maker Bigpoint for â‚¬80m (Â£71.5m; $88.7m) early in 2016. And this summer, Zhongji Holding bought venerable UK games maker Jagex, famous for its 15-year-old RuneScape fantasy role-playing game, for about $400m. Analysts believe there are several more acquisitions to come. Lisa Pan, director of Shanghai Zhongji Enterprise Group, Zhongji Holding's parent company, tells the BBC: "Chinese investors are attracted to the creative sector in the UK. We're also looking at Europe and the US for good gaming assets. "The games sector is a fast-growing industry and we're interested in building a portfolio of gaming companies." The firm expects to make further acquisitions this year, she says. One reason why successful Western games companies are attractive to Chinese investors is that they generate cash but are relatively cheap compared to the valuations of domestic companies listed on China's stock market, says Affan Butt, partner at Code Advisors, a technology and media investment banking specialist. But what's in it for the games companies - apart from a big payday? Rob Moffat, partner at investment firm Balderton Capital, says medium-sized developers realise that to access the fast-growing Asian market they need to form strategic partnerships with Chinese firms. "If you're a developer dependent on just a few games, you're vulnerable, so you need to scale up to about 10 games a year in the hope that one of them is a big hit. That means getting bought essentially," he says. Developing a new game from scratch can cost anything from $5m to $100m, says Jagex chief executive Rod Cousens - a games industry veteran who previously ran Codemasters, maker of the popular F1 motorsport game. "This is why all eyes are turning East right now - it's the biggest market in the world - and Chinese companies are looking beyond their borders." Amongst mobile gamers, average revenue per user is now higher in China than in the US, UK, and South Korea, according to a recent report by AppAnnie, proving that this really is a market that cannot be ignored. But what are the technical challenges facing a British games company like Jagex - primarily known for a visually rich desktop-based game - as it tries to expand into China where
summary: The Chinese are coming and they're hungry for games companies.