Games market in China totaled over $45 billion in 2022

And the upward trend is expected to continue

In 2022, the Chinese games market reached a total of $45.5 billion in earnings, from the combined PC, console, and mobile platforms.

According to the reports, over 45% of the revenue from mobile games worldwide was attributed to Chinese games companies, while total PC games revenue came in at around 40% of the global market. With the data showing such impressive figures, revenue from the Chinese games market is now projected to increase to around $57 billion by 2027, with over 730 million active gamers in the region.

In recent years, China has continued to grow and has quickly become one of the largest worldwide gaming markets. It is now estimated that over 30% of all global mobile games profits and nearly 35% of profits from global PC gaming were generated in China. In the domestic market, 65% of all revenue was attributed to mobile gaming, 30% to PC platforms, and only 3% from the console market, showing that mobile gaming is by far the most profitable of the three with Chinese gamers.

Two of the biggest gaming companies in China currently are Tencent and NetEase. In 2022 alone, the two companies combined represented over 60% of domestic revenue in the PC and mobile gaming markets.

Even with this impressive figure, however, this is slightly less than what it was by the end of 2021, and has been put down to a lack of new AAA titles and an underwhelming performance from legacy games, another popular gaming stream in China.

With Chinese gaming companies growing on the international stage, many are now starting to capitalize on this recent success and undertake bold investments on a grander scale than ever before. Profit generated from PC games overseas by Chinese-based companies increased by more than 20% in 2022 and is forecast to grow another 15% or so until 2027. These figures and their projected increase are significantly higher than any other domestic growth rate up until this point.

Overall, the Chinese marketplace can be a complicated place for both local and foreign companies in terms of legal and enabling environment. However, with that being said, the region is now the number one global market in terms of revenue from gaming and number of active gamers.
Of all the individual gaming companies successful in China, the digital video game distribution platform Steam is by far the most popular. If you considered games sold through Steam in China as though Steam was its games developer, the profits generated would surpass all other overseas developers combined and only second to local companies Tencent and NetEase.