China's domestic games market generated 350.789 billion yuan (approximately $50.1 billion) in actual revenue in 2025, up 7.68% year-over-year, according to figures published by CADPA and presented at a Shanghai industry conference in December, with translation handled by Meridian Play.

Growth has now accelerated for the second consecutive year, extending a recovery from the 2022 contraction that erased 10.33% of industry revenue.

What is the current platform mix in China?

Mobile holds the structural floor. Mobile titles accounted for 73.29% of 2025 revenue, with client-based PC games taking 22.28%. Browser games slid further to 1.23%, though CADPA explicitly excludes WeChat mini-games from that figure, and the mini-games segment is expanding aggressively on its own track.

The console segment is the smallest in absolute terms but the fastest grower. Hardware-inclusive revenue reached $1.18 million in 2025, up 86.33% year-over-year. CADPA bundles console hardware with software revenue, a methodology that limits comparability with trackers focused on software alone.

For studios prioritizing the domestic market, the picture is sharper segmentation rather than consolidation: mobile retains the bulk of ARPU, PC preserves the high-value paying cohort, and console revenue remains defined by hardware imports more than content supply.

Which genres are driving domestic spend?

MOBA titles led 2025 domestic rankings at 19.5% of revenue, followed by shooters at 18.3% and RPGs at 15.1%. CADPA did not break out individual titles. The top-three category weighting has held across multiple reporting cycles, a signal of concentrated rather than diversifying monetization at the top of mobile.

How did overseas revenue perform?

Chinese publishers generated $20.455 billion abroad in 2025, up 10.23% year-over-year and the second consecutive year of double-digit growth. Combined with the domestic figure, total Chinese industry revenue reaches an estimated $70.6 billion across both markets.

The US held the top overseas position at 32.31%. Japan followed at 16.35%, then South Korea (9.15%), Germany (3.84%) and the UK (2.92%). CADPA noted that Japanese share contracted slightly relative to the other leading markets, even as absolute revenue from most territories continued to rise.

What is winning overseas on mobile?

Strategy and SLG dominate export earnings. Of the top 100 Chinese mobile games by overseas revenue, 49.97% fall into the strategy and SLG category. Shooters rank second at 9.69%, RPGs third at 9.39%. The concentration reflects sustained live-service design, alliance-war mechanics, and high-LTV monetization models that few Western publishers have matched at scale.

For middleware and tooling vendors, the genre concentration points to a focused opportunity: combat-balance telemetry, multi-region localization pipelines, and gacha-system analytics tuned to the strategy audience.

What should studios track in 2026?

CADPA's outlook highlights two structural shifts for the coming year:

• Continued growth in WeChat mini-games, which CADPA tracks separately from the browser category and which is expanding faster than any other domestic format
• A multiplatform push, with developers increasingly shipping PC and console editions alongside mobile, raising reach but lifting production costs and cross-engine complexity

The next CADPA quarterly bulletin and Q1 2026 disclosures from major Chinese publishers will serve as the first indicator of whether those trajectories hold through the year.