Crytek officials said that it will be the first time that the studio will exhibit CryENGINE 2 in China, a region poised for explosive gaming growth.

A May 2008 report from Niko Partners said that China"s 46 million gamers spent mmoabc.7 billion on online games in 2007, up 71 percent from 2006. Online revenue is expected to hit $2.5 billion this year, and $6 billion in 2012.

In China, online products are part of the answer to rampant piracy of physical disc-based games.

"The phenomenal rate of growth of the gaming industry in China has been something we have been paying close attention to for some time," Crytek managing director Faruk Yerli said in a statement.

The engine is available for immediate licensing in China.

Crytek has already licensed CryENGINE 2 to a number of Asian studios that are working on MMOs.

The engine will be on display at ChinaJoy, July 17-19 in Shanghai. Crytek will be presenting hourly at booth W2-19 in Hall 2. For appointments, e-mail chinajoy@crytek.com.