Gaming media title IGN relaunches official Chinese site in a tie-up with Tencent as demand booms

Leading US video game media title IGN Entertainment has relaunched its official Chinese website in a tie-up with Tencent Holdings as game sales and appetite for gaming content continue to surge in China.

IGN China, the official Chinese website of IGN Entertainment, went live on September 1, resuming a presence in the country following the termination of IGN’s old website in 2018. Chinese gaming giant Tencent has replaced Anji360 as the operator of the site and the editor in chief of IGN China is Charles Young, who also manages Tencent’s gaming news app Gouhuo.

San Francisco-based IGN Entertainment currently has more than 200 million monthly users on its global website and 40 million users on social platforms, making it the leading gaming media worldwide, according to the company.

“Today, China has become an indispensable part of the global entertainment industry. The demand for cutting-edge information is as high in China as it is overseas,” IGN China wrote in a press release, “From today on, a renewed version of IGN China has confidence in serving each and every reader and client well.”

The relaunch of IGN’s Chinese website comes at a time when game sales have surged thanks to more people working and playing from home as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Sales of games in China surged to 139.4 billion yuan (US$20.4 billion) from January to June, 22 per cent higher than the same period last year, according to a report in July by the government-backed China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association.