China's games market hit $51.8bn in 2025, five times the UK's, report finds
China's video game market generated roughly $51.8bn in revenue in 2025, according to a new report from research firm Niko Partners, a figure more than five times the size of the UK industry. UKIE, Britain's trade body, put the UK market at $8.76bn for the same year.
Niko Partners forecasts continued growth, projecting the Chinese market will rise 4 percent to $53.9bn in 2026 and reach $59.8bn by 2030. The firm attributes the performance to stronger-than-expected results from both new titles and evergreen live-service games such as Genshin Impact. As one example, the 2025 MMO Where Winds Meet surpassed 2 million players globally within a day of release.
The report also details how Chinese players engage with games. It found 46.5 percent participate in esports to some degree, a figure Niko Partners expects to rise to 51.3 percent in 2026. Eight in ten gamers have played a mini-game, and mini-games account for 20 percent of total spending.
The figures arrive as Western studios face layoffs and closures, and they underscore China's growing weight in the global market, a shift driven by hits like Black Myth: Wukong and expanding live-service portfolios.
The report quantifies China's widening lead over Western markets at a moment when Western studios are cutting jobs, signaling where the industry's growth and spending are concentrating.