China Reports Over $10 Billion Esports Games Profit in First Half of 2020, Grows 54.7% YoY

During the annual China Digital Entertainment Expo & Conference (ChinaJoy) in Shanghai, China Game Industry Research Institute released its research report for China’s gaming industry from January to June of 2020.

China’s esports industry has grown rapidly, according to the report. The country recorded 484 million esports users for the period, which was up 9.94% in the first half of 2020. The industry generated revenue of ￥71.9 billion ($10.3 billion) in the esports games market for the period, which marks a huge increase of roughly 55% year-over-year (YoY) compared to the same period in 2019.

Yibo Zhang, a member of the China Culture Management Association and director of Chinese esports publication People Esports, has confirmed to Pandaily that the data was also substantiated by People’s Daily, the biggest state-owned publication in China.

China’s gaming industry has recorded 660 million gaming users and generated a revenue of ￥139 billion ($20 billion) in the market in the period, an increase of 22% YoY compared to the same period in 2019.

SEE ALSO: China’s Esports Market to Reach RMB 140 Billion in 2020

It should be noted that mobile games dominated the Chinese gaming market, which generated revenue of ￥104.6 billion ($15 billion), taking over 75.04% of total revenue. Meanwhile, PC games took 20.18% of market share, and web games took 2.87%.

In addition, China has accelerated its growth in the cloud gaming area due to large investments in big data, artificial intelligence, and 5G. From January to June, China’s cloud gaming market generated revenue of ￥400 million ($57.5 million), up 79% YoY.