The revenue of video-game console facility sales in China is estimated to reach 3.37 billion yuan ($488 million) in 2016, an official said onNovember 27.

Ma Feng, a deputy department director with the Ministry of Culture, told a gaming conference in Shanghai that console sales in China will grow 56.7 percent over that in 2015, surpassing growth pace of the entire gaming industry.

"The console market is becoming China gaming industry's most active and fastest growing sub-sector," said Ma.

He contributed the boom to improving environment for home-grown game designers and console manufacturers to do businesses and opportunities to cooperate with foreign partners.

More domestic companies are investing in developing new games, while the latest products, including virtual reality gadgets, from foreign titans like Microsoft and Sony are faring well on the market, Ma added.

At the conference, Chinese gamers were also told that they would have simultaneous access to Square Enix's popular role-playing video game Final Fantasy XV upon its global release later this month.

(Xinhua News Agency November 27, 2016)