Players compete at a game carnival in Wuhan, Hubei province, on June 25. [Photo/VCG]
China's gaming industry delivered strong growth in the first half of 2026, driven by policy support, overseas expansion and AI adoption, according to an official industry report released on Thursday at the China Digital Entertainment Congress (CDEC).
Data showed that total domestic gaming sales reached 188.45 billion yuan ($27.85 billion), representing a 12.17 percent year-on-year increase, with total users reaching 684 million. Domestic sales of self-developed games grew by 16.31 percent to 163.36 billion yuan.
While mobile games maintained domestic market dominance with 135.21 billion yuan in revenue, PC games surged 27.92 percent to 45.29 billion yuan, driven by cross-platform play and several classic games. Mini-games continued their rapid expansion, jumping 36.01 percent to 31.66 billion yuan ($4.68 billion), while board games were officially tracked in the industry report for the first time, generating 3.87 billion yuan.
Overseas sales of self-developed Chinese games surged 30.22 percent to $12.37 billion, with the US (32.31 percent), Japan (14.05 percent) and South Korea (7.48 percent) dominating top target markets, while European market shares climbed. Moreover, strategy games dominated overseas mobile revenues at 46.91 percent, followed by fast-growing merge games at 16.22 percent.
