China’ Games Market Exceeds $50 Billion Yearly Revenue For The First Time
Niko Partners have released their latest report on China’s 2025 revenue and 2026 projections. They’ve reported that, for the first time, China’s games market revenue has exceeded $50 billion USD. In fact, it added on another billion to hit a total of $51.8 Billion USD in 2025.
With Newzoo predicting a global games revenue in 2026 of $213.9 Billion, the Chinese market is effectively generating 25% of all global games revenues on its own.
But the good news for the Chinese market doesn’t stop there. Niko Partners have projected that in 2026; the Chinese market will continue to grow at an impressive 4% year-on-year. If projections are accurate, the Chinese market will reach $53.9 Billion in 2026, with a further 2030 projection of $59.8 Billion (at 2.9% CAGR). The Chinese government has recognised the importance of games, including them in their 2026-2030 five-year plan of economic development, aligning nicely with these projections for strong growth until 2030.
This impressive growth is fuelled by strong performances across new and legacy titles. These are primarily on PC and Mobile. Interestingly, Niko also point to what they’re calling “Mini-games” as an area of major growth, with seemingly 80% of Chinese players engaging with them at some point. These games constituted 20% of all mobile revenue. These “mini-games” are likely the simple, lightweight games built into major social platforms that are popular in China, such as Weixin, QQ, or Bilibili. This is further confirmed by their findings that just under 50% of players discover new games primarily through short video apps.
Niko Partners didn’t just look at revenues; they also looked at how Chinese gamers are accessing their games. They found that in 2025, 66% of Chinese players utilize methods to access global platforms like Steam, with VPNs, global servers, and “games accelerators” (effectively games-specific VPNs).
Finally, Niko suggest five key trends for the Chinese market to watch over the next five years:
- Growth in niche genres
- Increased out-of-app monetization
- Regulatory improvements
- Higher consumer spending on premium PC and console titles
- The integration of generative AI.