China’s video game sales reach record in 2025 amid overseas expansion, AI investment

China’s video game industry revenue grew 7.7 per cent to a new high this year, as domestic titles from the likes of Tencent Holdings and NetEase continued to expand globally and bets on artificial intelligence paid off, according to data released on Friday by the country’s semi-official gaming industry association.\nThe country’s gaming market posted total sales of 350.8 billion yuan (US$49.8 billion) for the year, breaking the previous record of 325.8 billion yuan set last year. The numbers were released by the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association at its annual conference in Shanghai.\nThe growth was driven by a number of factors including increased policy support from the government, extraordinary performances in overseas markets, as well as the impact from technology innovations on efficiency, according to the report.\nThe growth, which marked the third consecutive year of revenue increases for video game sales, reflected how the industry had navigated a period of regulatory recalibration to get back on track.\nIn recent years, Beijing has softened its stance on video game approvals. Throughout 2025, the National Press and Publication Administration, the Chinese agency overseeing online games, maintained a steady cadence of license approvals, providing the predictability necessary for long-term investment.\n\nIn 2025, China was also expected to surpass the US to become the world’s largest video gaming market by sales, with estimated revenue of US$53.2 billion, according to a report from research firm Newzoo. It expected global gaming revenue to increase by 7.5 per cent year on year to US$197 billion.\nThe number of gamers in China rose 1.35 per cent from a year ago to 683 million, also a record high, according to the report by the industry association, although the gaming population has seen significantly slower growth compared with a decade ago when the mobile internet quickly expanded.\nThe record figures come as the country’s major studios – including Tencent, NetEase and miHoYo – have pivoted aggressively towards international markets in recent years, characterised by the success of titles including Genshin Impact, Black Myth: Wukong and Delta Force.\nDuring the year, sales revenue from Chinese-developed games in overseas markets grew to 20.5 billion yuan, a 10.2 per cent jump from 2024, according to the report issued on Friday.\nDelta Force, a multi-platform shooting game developed by Tencent’s flagship Timi Studio Group, attracted nearly 30 million daily active users in China a year after its launch last September, putting it on par with the company’s top-selling game Honor of Kings.\n\nOther Chinese titles that have attracted wide popularity globally include Whiteout Survival, a strategy mobile game by Beijing-based Century Games, as well as Where Winds Meet, a wuxia action-adventure role-playing game developed by NetEase’s Everstone Studio.\nMobile games sales, which made up 73.3 per cent of the total, grew 7.9 per cent this year to 257.1 billion yuan. PC games made up 22.3 per cent of the market with 78.2 billion yuan in sales.\nThe US, Japan and Korea remain the three largest overseas markets for Chinese games, with the US accounting for the largest share at 32.3 per cent, followed by Japan and South Korea with 16.4 per cent and 9.2 per cent, respectively.\n