It's tempting to see China as a potential goldrush for virtual worlds, given its huge population. However, an article in Business Week makes it clear that it's very early days indeed, claiming that the largest local virtual world, HiPiHi, has 48,000 registered users, while its main rivals NovoKing and UOneNet have £10,000 and less than £1,000 respectively.
Of course, these low figures are because HiPiHi has only just gone public, while NovoKing and UOneNet are still in closed beta. However, HiPiHi is already attracting interest from brands, with Procter & Gamble opening a virtual salon for its Vidal Sassoon brand even before the commercial launch.
One interesting point made in the article is that Chinese companies are looking to do more in virtual worlds than simply promote their brands. Ideas like training factory workers, hosting online auctions and running virtual classrooms have already been mooted, with HiPiHi founder Xu Hui pointing out that there will be “some differences in our thought process” from the Western virtual worlds.
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