China’s gaming industry has staged an impressive comeback, marking a significant turnaround from previous setbacks, with domestic revenue hitting 303 billion yuan ($42.6 billion) this year — a notable 13 percent increase.
The resurgence, announced by industry association CGIGC at a conference in Guangzhou, underscores a remarkable recovery from Beijing’s stringent eight-month crackdown two years ago.
Highlighting this comeback was the industry’s milestone achievement, surpassing the 300 billion yuan mark in domestic revenue for the first time in the history of video gaming business. The industry report also revealed an uptick in the number of gamers, reaching a record-breaking 668 million — a figure exceeding the entire population of North America, Reuters news report said.
The resurgence in gaming business in China signifies a pivotal shift for the globe’s largest gaming market, rebounding from a previous year’s decline triggered by Beijing’s extended crackdown on gaming due to addiction concerns.
In a push for technological autonomy, domestically developed games continued their upward trajectory. With Beijing emphasizing self-sufficiency in tech, homegrown games raked in a staggering 15 percent increase in annual revenue, soaring to 256 billion yuan, a commendable surge from the previous year.
However, the rosy picture domestically faced a stark contrast in overseas markets. Revenue from Chinese games experienced a dip, plummeting by 5.65 percent to $16.3 billion in 2023, as countries like India intensified scrutiny over national security implications, impacting their reception abroad.
Despite this, anime-style games originating from China, notably miHoYo’s “Genshin Impact,” garnered immense popularity, contributing significantly to revenue growth. The genre, particularly on smartphones, witnessed a staggering 31 percent surge, amassing 31 billion yuan this year compared to the previous.
This resurgence in China’s gaming industry resonated in the performance of major players like Tencent and its rival NetEase. Tencent, after experiencing its first-ever revenue decline last year, saw a commendable return to growth, paralleled by NetEase’s over 40 percent rise in shares, attributed to gaming successes such as “Egg Party.”
China now has a total of 668 million game players, a new record high.
The country’s self-developed game products have raked in about 16.4 billion U.S. dollars overseas in 2023, achieving a revenue scale of over 100 billion yuan for four consecutive years, said the report.
The United States and Japan remain the two major overseas markets for Chinese mobile games, accounting for 32.5 percent and 18.9 percent, respectively, in terms of market share, followed by the Republic of Korea.
