HAIKOU, Dec. 17 -- China's game market experienced robust growth this year with revenues for the sector surging 37.7 percent year on year, said a report Wednesday.

Game sales have reached 114.5 billion yuan (18.5 billion U.S. dollars) this year, according to a report released by China Audio-video and Digital Publishing Association at the annual meeting of the country's game industry held in Haikou, capital of the southern island province of Hainan.

The growth was driven in particular by strong sales of mobile games in the wake of increased smartphone penetration.

Sales of mobile games soared 145 percent year on year to 27.5 billion yuan, it said.

Sales of games developed by domestic game companies reached 72.7 billion yuan, posting strong growth of 52.5 percent.

Meanwhile, the number of game players in the world's most populous country saw modest annual growth of 4.6 percent to reach 517 million, the report said.