China’s video games market surpassed $50 billion for the primary time in 2025, rising 5.4% year-on-year to $51.8 billion.
A new report from Niko Partners initiatives the market will develop 4% in 2026 to $53.9 billion, and attain $59.8 billion by 2030, reflecting a five-year CAGR of two.9%.
China’s participant base is anticipated to succeed in 769 million by 2030, with common weekly playtime rising to fifteen.8 hours from 14.1 hours final 12 months.
Niko Companions attributed the rise in income and gamers to “stronger-than-expected efficiency from each newly launched titles and legacy evergreen video games.”
Mini-games are a “main progress section,” with 80% of Chinese language gamers participating within the style, which represents virtually 20% of cellular sport spending.
Practically half of gamers use brief video apps to find new video games and data throughout platforms.
The report additionally highlights that 66% of Chinese language gamers use various methods to bypass the country’s internet censorship. Amongst respondents, 30.8% play on world servers, 33.6% use gaming accelerators, and 21.9% use VPNs.
Earlier this 12 months, China included video video games in its 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development (2026-2030). Video games had been beforehand categorised as digital cultural merchandise.
Niko Companions recognized 5 key developments for China’s video games market over the subsequent 5 years: progress in area of interest genres, elevated out-of-app monetisation, regulatory enhancements, greater client spending on premium PC and console titles, and the mixing of generative AI.
The agency famous that Chinese language video games firms are “quickly embracing generative AI throughout growth pipelines and player-facing options,” together with a “broader growth” in user-generated content material platforms.
Whereas the speedy enlargement of generative AI infrastructure has pushed demand for RAM and semiconductor parts, Niko Companions mentioned that “ongoing innovation, regulatory readability, and sturdy participant engagement proceed to assist long-term market progress” in China.
Hi, I’m Rishab. I’m a passionate pc gamer and an avid video game content writer. I have been involved with video games for over 2 decades now, and even today, after playing an astronomical number of games over the years, I’m still eager for more. In my free time, you will find me enjoying a hot cup of coffee and playing my favorite relaxing fishing game, Dave the Diver.
