In 2024, the overseas sales of video games developed in China saw an increase of 13.4 percent compared to the previous year, reaching $18.6 billion.
China’s
video gaming
According to a survey of the companies’ most recent annual reports, their international operations became major sources of income in 2024 due to sluggish growth in their home markets.
According to Zhang Shule from CBJ Think Tank, Chinese video game developers are now focusing their efforts on releasing top-tier games for international audiences.
This trend comes after the multi-year efforts by both
Tencent Holdings
and
NetEase
to broaden the international presence of China’s video game industry.
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Hong Kong
-Tencent, operating the globe’s biggest video gaming enterprise in terms of revenue, experienced a 68 percent increase in profits for 2024 compared to the previous year, reaching 194 billion yuan (approximately US$26.8 billion). This growth was partly due to an uptick in international game revenues, which climbed 9 percent to hit 58 billion yuan.
Shenzhen
-a company’s fight-to-the-death video game
PUBG Mobile
last year ranked second in overseas revenue among Chinese game developers, according to data from app analytics firm Sensor Tower.
Hangzhou
NetEase, which is dual-listed in Hong Kong, reported a 2.5 percent rise in video game revenues last year, reaching 83.6 billion yuan. The company did not reveal the scale of its international operations.
Shares of Tencent closed up 1.67 per cent to HK$498 on Thursday, while NetEase slipped 0.12 per cent to HK$165.90.
The success of those two companies has led to a rise in “go global” initiatives by other major Chinese video gaming companies, including Zhejiang Century Huatong Group and 37 Interactive Entertainment.
In 2024, Century Huatong, a video game firm listed on the Shenzhen stock exchange, saw its revenues jump by 70% compared to the previous year, totaling approximately 22.6 billion yuan. This growth marked the first time that the company’s international sales had outpaced those from within China. According to reports published by Securities Daily, an official Chinese newspaper, this figure represents the highest annual income achieved by any publicly traded gaming company based in Mainland China.
The company’s strategy game
Whiteout Survival
rose to the top of mobile game revenue rankings among titles from Chinese developers in 2024, according to Sensor Tower.
A different company listed in Shenzhen, 37 Interactive Entertainment—or 37Games—reported revenues of 17.4 billion yuan and profits of 2.7 billion yuan last year, largely due to international demand. Over thirty percent of their overall sales came from abroad.
Its
Puzzles & Survival
mobile title last year ranked eighth in overseas revenue among Chinese-developed mobile games, according to Sensor Tower.
Century Huatong’s shares ended 2.70 percent higher at 8 yuan on Thursday, whereas 37 Interactive’s stock rose slightly by 0.33 percent to reach 15.18 yuan.
China’s
video gaming
The sector expanded by 7.53 percent last year due to record sales totaling 325.8 billion yuan, as reported by the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association. However, this figure is considerably lower than the industry’s almost 40 percent revenue increase from about ten years back.
Overseas sales growth has become a bright spot for the industry, according to the association, as Chinese firms “innovate and expand in the process of going abroad”. Sales of China-developed video games abroad increased 13.4 per cent to US$18.6 billion last year, which marked the first time overseas sales have risen in three years.
Nevertheless, numerous businesses continue to face challenges due to sluggish domestic expansion from the previous year, as the total
Home consumption stayed low.
.
Of the 26 video game firms listed on China’s stock exchange, 17 experienced a decline in revenues in 2024, as reported by Chinese digital platform The Paper on Thursday, referencing information provided by domestic financial data company Wind.
Beijing
-based
Perfect World
For instance, there was a 28 percent decrease in revenue along with a historic loss of 1.29 billion yuan in 2024 due to underperforming domestic projects. The company’s stock price ended 1.25 percent down at 13.43 yuan on Thursday.
Zhang from CBJ Think Tank noted that mainland-listed firms are usually considered “secondary contenders within their industries,” yet they are currently intensifying efforts to export premium video games to international markets.
He noted that this could lead to a temporary downturn in their financial performance. However, should a successful game emerge, this positive trend could persist for several years.
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The article initially appeared on the South ChinaMorning Post (www.scmp.com), which is the premier source for news coverage of China andAsia.
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