China’s video gaming market shows signs of recovery in 2023 as Beijing continues to relax regulatory crackdown
- Overall industry revenue fell 2.4 per cent in the first half of 2023 from a year earlier, but surged from the second half of 2022
- ‘China’s gaming industry is gradually getting out of the trough and showing an upward trend’ says China Audio-video and Digital Publishing Association
China’s video gaming industry, once criticised by state media for churning out “spiritual opium” that poisoned the country’s youth, has shown signs of recovery in the first half of 2023 as Beijing continues to ease a regulatory crackdown.
Overall industry revenue fell 2.4 per cent in the first half of 2023 from a year earlier, but the combined amount of 144.3 billion yuan in the January to June period was up 22.2 per cent from the second half of 2022, according to a report released by China’s Game Publishing Committee, the state-backed association, at the ChinaJoy expo on Thursday.
The association said there was a “significant increase in revenue” in May and June. “According to this trend, we expect that there will be a relatively strong bottoming out in the second half of the year,” Zhang Yijun, first vice-chairman of the China Audio-video and Digital Publishing Association, said at the event while delivering the report.
“China’s gaming industry is gradually getting out of the trough and showing an upward trend,” said Zhang. He added that it was still necessary to “boost confidence in the industry” and “deepen the protection of minors”.
The Chinese government manages the domestic video gaming market in the same way as it treats films and television programmes. In addition to censorship of “unhealthy” content in video games, authorities also run a strict licensing system for new titles. Foreign gaming studios, meanwhile, have to access the Chinese market through local partners.
The Chinese government imposed an eight-month freeze on game approvals in late 2021, dealing the industry a heavy blow with video game sales slumping over 10 per cent in 2022. China resumed games licensing in 2022 and normalised the pace in 2023 with over 86 titles approved each month. The country has granted more licences in the first half of 2023 than it did in all of 2022, in a clear sign of renewed support for the industry.
The report states the number of gamers in China increased 0.35 per cent year-on-year to 668 million during the first half, reaching “a record high” and reversing a fall in 2022.