Female video gamers splashing the cash online

More and more female gamers in China are splashing their cash online, increasingly becoming a key driving force behind the world's largest gaming market, according to a recent report.

The number of female gamers active in the Chinese market grew 6 percent year-on-year to hit 264 million in 2017, accounting for 45 percent of the total number in the country, according to a report by industry database Gamma Data Corp. The company predicted that number will grow steadily in the coming months, reaching 281 million this year.

The report said female gamers' passion is set to create a market worth 56.84 billion yuan ($8.85 billion) by 2020, buoyed by mobile internet expansion, booming social media usage and major online game companies' shift toward creating more games targeted at women.