Niko executives Lisa Hanson and Daniel Ahmad joined Bill Bishop on his Sinocism podcast on Substack Live to dive into the current state of China’s $50 billion games industry and how Chinese companies are making their marks in the global stage. Our 22 years of tracking China’s games industry coupled with Bill’s decades of expertise on China’s politics, economics and policy yielded a lot of food for thought on the pod. Scroll down for the link to view it directly.
By the way, Niko News is now available on Substack! If you like your newsletters delivered that way, please subscribe there and recommend us on the platform. We are new to Substack and want to spread the good news, as well as the Niko News!
We discussed some hot topics on Sinocism with Bill Bishop, concerning China’s games industry and international growth of Chinese game companies. Here are a few points we talked about:
- The international expansion of the two giants in the Chinese game scene: Tencent and NetEase, as well as their domestic success and evergreen titles.
- Non-licensed games can find success through Steam international as Chinese gamers can access both the Chinese and international version of Steam.
- More game developers or publishers turn to generative AI (genAI) for game development to increase efficiency and lower cost. Almost half of Chinese gamers are both aware and interested in the leveraging of gen AI in video games.
Watch the full episode here (42 minutes).
Check out our reports and services to help you staying up to date on the China video game market:
NikoIQ: Get the latest updates on game approvals, the top internet café games, esports tournaments and all the latest news and analysis on the China games market.
China Games & Streaming Tracker: Track games, streamers, fans, tips, and more across China’s leading game live streaming platforms.
China Games Market Report Series: Get access to our three-part report series that includes our market model and five-year forecast, gamer survey insights, and market analysis.
Niko Partners Vice President Xiaofeng Zeng reflected on his observations of ChinaJoy in this new blog post. Niko Partners has Learn more >
Shooter titles dominated China’s livestreaming landscape in June 2026, standing out as some of the month’s most-watched content. Niko Partners China Games & Learn more >
RPG titles dominated China’s livestreaming landscape in May 2026, standing out as some of the month’s most-watched content. Niko Partners Learn more >
Niko Partners Vice President Xiaofeng Zeng reflected on his observations of ChinaJoy in this new blog post. Niko Partners has Learn more >
Shooter titles dominated China’s livestreaming landscape in June 2026, standing out as some of the month’s most-watched content. Niko Partners China Games & Learn more >
RPG titles dominated China’s livestreaming landscape in May 2026, standing out as some of the month’s most-watched content. Niko Partners Learn more >