2020 China Gaming Industry Report

At the China Game Industry Annual Conference held yesterday, the official released 2020 China Gaming Industry Report. The report said:

In 2020, the number of gamers in China has exceeded 660 million, and the actual sales revenue of Chinese game market is 278.687 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20.71%, and the growth rate will increase by 13.05% year-on-year. The scale of “games going overseas” was further expanded.

The actual sales revenue of independently developed games overseas was US$15.450 billion, a year-on-year increase of 33.25%, and the growth rate increased by 12.3 percentage points year-on-year. The internationalization degree was further improved.

1.Actual sales revenue and user scale in China’s game market

In 2020, the sales revenue of China’s game market increased, the growth of user scale keeps slowing down, and the income of independently developed games is high.

Actual sales revenue of China’s game industry

In 2020, the actual sales revenue of China’s game market will be 278.687 billion yuan, which is higher than 2019.

The annual increase was 47.81 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20.71%, maintaining rapid growth.

1.1. Chinese gamer scale

In 2020, the number of game users in China will maintain a steady growth, with the number of users reaching 665 million, a year-on-year increase of 3.7%.

1.2. Actual sales revenue of China’s self-developed games in the domestic market

In 2020, the actual sales revenue of China’s self-developed games in the domestic market was 240.192 billion yuan, an increase of 50.678 billion yuan over 2019, a year-on-year increase of 26.74%.

2. Actual sales revenue of China’s self-developed games in overseas markets

In 2020, the sales revenue of China’s self-developed games in the overseas market has continued to increase steadily, and “going out” is still a major direction that the country and enterprises pay attention to.

2.1 Actual sales revenue of China’s self-developed games in overseas markets

In 2020, the actual sales revenue of China’s self-developed game overseas market reached 15.450 billion US dollars, an increase of 3.855 billion US dollars over 2019, a year-on-year increase of 33.25%, and continued to maintain a rapid growth trend.

2.2 The Genre Division of Top 100 China’s Independently Developed Mobile Games in Overseas Market (Revenue)

In 2020, in the overseas revenue distribution of China’s self-developed mobile games, strategy games accounted for 37.18%, shooter games accounted for 17.97%, and role-playing games accounted for 11.35%. The three types of games accounted for 66.5% of the total.

2.3 Key overseas market for China’s self-developed mobile games

In 2020, in the overseas revenue distribution of China’s self-developed mobile games, revenue from the US market accounted for 27.55%, ranking first. The income from Japan and South Korea accounted for 23.91% and 8.81% respectively. The three regions together contributed 60.27% of China’s self-developed mobile game overseas revenue.

3. The submarket of Chinese game

In 2020, the actual sales revenue of China’s mobile game market continues to rise, the PC game market and the web game market is still shrinking, and the actual sales revenue and market share decreased significantly.

3.1 China’s mobile game market scale

In 2020, the actual sales revenue of China’s mobile game market was 209.676 billion yuan, an increase of 51.565 billion yuan over 2019, a year-on-year increase of 32.61%.

3.2 China’s mobile game player scale and growth rate

In 2020, the number of mobile game users in China will reach 654 million, a year-on-year increase of 4.84%.

3.3 China’s PC game market scale

In 2020, the actual sales revenue of China’s PC game market was 55.92 billion yuan, a decrease of 5.594 billion yuan from 2019 and a year-on-year decrease of 9.09%.

3.4 China’s web game market scale

In 2020, the launching of web game products decreased, and the overall market is keeping declining. The actual sales revenue of China’s web game market was only 7.608 billion yuan, a decrease of 2.261 billion yuan from 2019, a year-on-year decrease of 22.9%, and the year-on-year growth rate showed a downward trend year by year.

3.5 Chinese game market division

In 2020, the actual sales revenue of China’s mobile game market is 209.676 billion yuan, accounting for 75.24%; the actual revenue of PC game market is 55.92 billion yuan, accounting for 20.07%; the actual sales revenue of web game market is 7.608 billion yuan, accounting for 2.73 %, mobile game revenue accounts for a major share of the game market.

3.6 China’s e-sports game market scale

In 2020, the actual sales revenue of China’s e-sports game market was 136.557 billion yuan, an increase of 41.83 billion yuan over 2019 and a year-on-year increase of 44.16%.

3.7 The scale of Chinese e-sports users

In 2020, the number of e-sports game users in China will reach 488 million, a year-on-year increase of 9.65%, and the number of users will maintain a steady growth.

4. The market condition of game in China by genre

In 2020, the proportion of game subgenre in the Chinese game market, role-playing games still account for a relatively high share of overall market revenue and all game genres.

4.1 The Genre Division of Game Revenue Top 100

In 2020, the genres of the top 100 in China’s mobile game revenue are gradually enriched, and users have more choices. This year, three game genres account for more than 10% of them. They are: role-playing games, accounting for 28%; card games, accounting for 16%; strategy games, accounting for 12%.

4.2 The Revenue Division of Game Revenue Top 100

In 2020, role-playing games accounted for 19.48% of gross revenue of Top 100 Game(revenue) ; MOBA games have developed rapidly, and the market is expanding very fast, accounting for 15.28%; shooter games second only to MOBA games, accounting for 15.04%. The three account for 49.8% of the total revenue.

4.3 The IP type of Top 100 mobile games by revenue

About the IP types of Top 100 mobile games, the largest number is self-created IP, accounting for 36%. Another 24%, 9%, and 8% of mobile games were adapted from PC games, novels, and console/single-player games, respectively.

4.4 Top 100 Mobile Game(Revenue) Product Style, Revenue & Volume Percentage

In 2020, among China’s top 100 mobile game by revenue, the proportion of realistic products is slightly lower, but the proportion of revenue is higher.

4.5 Top 100 mobile game (revenue) revenue & volume proportion

Among China’s Top 100 mobile game(revenue), the game types with the highest revenue are modern themes, fantasy/magic themes, and cultural fusion themes, accounting for 16.75%, 15.5% and 15.06%.

The three types of games with the highest volume proportion are fantasy/magic, history and other games, accounting for 24%, 16% and 14% respectively.

Fantasy/magic-themed games is in the Top 3 both in revenue and volume.