The Zhitong Finance App learned that Wanlian Securities released a research report saying that the China International Digital Entertainment Industry Conference (CDEC) was held, and the “China Game Industry Report from January to June 2026” was released at the conference. From January to June 2026, the game market revenue and user scale continued to grow, new game supply-side products continued to be released, Evergreen products developed steadily, and the market potential was sufficient. It is recommended to focus on leading manufacturers with the ability to operate Evergreen products, rich new product reserves, cross-end R&D and distribution capabilities, and diversified subject matter layout capabilities.
The main views of Wanlian Securities are as follows:
Domestic game market revenue and user size continue to grow from January to June 2026
From January to June 2026, the actual sales revenue of the domestic game market was 18.450 billion yuan, up 12.17% year on year; the number of game users reached 684 million yuan, up 0.82% year on year. Market growth was mainly driven by stable mobile platforms, outstanding performance of client-side and dual-end intercom products, and rapid domestic and overseas revenue growth for self-developed games.
Looking at market segments
(1) The mobile market has maintained a dominant position, and Changqing products and new products have jointly established a basic market size market. From January to June 2026, the actual sales revenue of the domestic mobile game market was 135.210 billion yuan, up 7.90% year on year, mainly due to the stable performance of Changqing products such as “Wang Zhe Rongyao,” “Peace Elite,” “League of Legends,” and “Crossing the Line of Fire”; the new IP series games “Rock Kingdom: World”, “Reverse War: The Future” and “Tomorrow's Ark: Endland” received high attention when they went online, effectively expanding the user base; new products such as “Kill the Goose and Duck” and “Alien Ring” also contributed significantly to the increase.
(2) The growth rate of clients has jumped dramatically, and dual-end interconnection is still the core growth engine. From January to June 2026, the actual sales revenue of the domestic client game market was 45.288 billion yuan, an increase of 27.92% over the previous year, a significant increase. The main reason is that dual-terminal interactive products such as “Operation Delta”, “16 Voices of Yan Yun”, “Battle Against the Future”, and “Alien Ring” break the traffic barriers of mobile games and activate the consumption potential of existing users. Several popular Evergreen mobile game products such as “League of Legends” and “Dream West Journey” have shown potential for continued growth.
(3) Applet games maintain a high growth rate of over 30%, and the IAP and IAA hybrid monetization model is mature. From January to June 2026, the applet mobile game market revenue was 31,657 billion yuan, an increase of 36.01% over the previous year, and continued to maintain a high growth rate. Among them, actual sales revenue from internal purchases (IAP) was 21.137 billion yuan, up 38.12% year on year, accounting for 66.8% of total revenue; advertising monetization (IAA) revenue was 10.520 billion yuan, up 31.94% year on year, accounting for 33.2% of total revenue. The bank believes that the share of IAP continues to rise, indicating that applet games are evolving from the traffic monetization logic of early casual products to medium to heavy gameplay and long-term operation, that users' willingness to pay continues to deepen, and the IAA and IAP hybrid monetization model is maturing.
(4) Self-developed overseas markets grew strongly, and the growth rate jumped to more than 30%. From January to June 2026, the actual sales revenue of self-developed games in the overseas market was US$12.372 billion, an increase of 30.22% over the previous year. The main factors supporting this strong growth are the continued operation of long-term products such as “Song Tide” and “Tomorrow's Ark” and the steady contribution of new products such as “Different Ring”.
Risk factors: Policy and regulatory risks, the pace of issuing versions falls short of expectations, delays in the launch and performance of new tours falls short of expectations, new game flows fall short of expectations, increased risk of overseas business, and risk of impairment of goodwill.