China's games market reached $45.5bn in 2022
Tencent and NetEase represented 61% of the domestic PC and mobile market in 2021, but combined share in decline
The games market in China reached $45.5 billion in revenue in 2022 – that's including mobile, console and PC.
Chinese games companies accounted for 47% of the mobile games revenue worldwide and 39% of the PC games revenue, a new report from Niko Partners showed.
The data firm said the games market in China is expected to grow to $57 billion in revenue by 2027, and an estimated 730 million gamers.
The report stated that China continues to be the biggest games market worldwide, with 31.7% of global mobile games revenue and 33.4% of global PC games revenue generated in the country.
Looking at its domestic market, 66% of its revenue comes from mobile, 31% from PC and 3% from console titles.
Tencent and NetEase continue to be the big players in China, representing a combined 61% of domestic PC and mobile games revenue in 2022. However, Niko noted that this share was in decline compared to 2021 "due to weak performance from legacy titles and a lack of new title launches."
Lisa Hanson, CEO and founder of Niko Partners said: "Chinese game companies are growing internationally, and they are making bold investments at higher rates than ever. PC games revenue generated overseas by Chinese owned companies rose by 22% in 2022 and is expected to grow by a 13.8% CAGR through 2027 – which is higher than the domestic growth rate by a significant margin."
She added: "China’s market can be tough for domestic and foreign companies, but the country remains the No.1 market globally for games revenue and the number of gamers, and cannot be ignored
"Game companies are successful in China, both through officially approved releases on app stores and unlicensed releases through platforms such as Steam International. If we consider games published through Steam in China as if Steam were a single entity, the revenue generated from the platform would surpass all other publishers in the country except for Tencent and NetEase."
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