Tencent and miHoYo Lead Chinese Gaming Exports: $18B in Global Revenue

Overseas revenue growth trajectory#

Chinese gaming companies collectively earned $18.4 billion from international markets in 2025, representing a 22% increase from the previous year and roughly 30% of total industry revenue. Tencent led with an estimated $7.2 billion in overseas gaming revenue, driven by its ownership stakes in Riot Games, Supercell, and Epic Games. miHoYo's Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail combined for over $3.5 billion internationally, demonstrating that original Chinese IP can compete at the highest levels of global entertainment. This export success has been achieved largely through digital distribution, making gaming one of China's most capital-efficient export categories.

Market strategies differ by region#

In North America and Europe, Chinese publishers typically operate through acquired Western studios or localised publishing arms that downplay their Chinese ownership. In Southeast Asia and Latin America, Chinese games dominate app store charts directly, with titles optimised for mobile-first markets and free-to-play monetisation models. Japan and South Korea represent premium markets where Chinese RPGs and strategy games have achieved surprising success against entrenched domestic competitors. Each regional approach requires different content localisation, monetisation, and marketing strategies that Chinese publishers have become increasingly sophisticated at executing.

Investment in global studio acquisitions#

Tencent has assembled the world's largest gaming portfolio through minority and majority stakes in over 800 gaming companies spanning 40 countries. NetEase has taken a different approach, establishing first-party studios in Tokyo, Montreal, and Barcelona to develop games specifically for Western audiences. These acquisition and organic expansion strategies serve dual purposes: accessing global talent pools that are difficult to recruit to China, and establishing local market expertise that pure export models cannot replicate. The resulting corporate structures are genuinely multinational, complicating simplistic narratives about Chinese gaming exports.

Regulatory and geopolitical headwinds#

India's ban on several Chinese-published games and apps has removed a market of over 500 million potential players, though workarounds through third-party publishers have partially restored access. US legislators have introduced bills targeting Tencent's ownership of American gaming studios on national security grounds, though none have advanced to law as of mid-2026. The EU has taken a lighter regulatory approach, focusing on data protection compliance rather than ownership restrictions. These varying regulatory environments create a patchwork of market access challenges that require careful monitoring and adaptive corporate structures.

Data localisation requirements#

Multiple jurisdictions now require gaming companies to store player data locally, increasing operational costs for Chinese publishers operating across dozens of markets. Compliance with GDPR, India's DPDP Act, and Brazil's LGPD requires separate data infrastructure and privacy teams for each major market. These requirements have accelerated the trend toward establishing local subsidiaries rather than operating centrally from China.