Niko Partners: The gaming market in China will grow by 5.2% in 2023
The market recovered from last year's decline.
Preliminary results for 2023
The market size will reach $47.76 billion. The 5.2% growth follows a 2.5% decline in 2022.
The number of players in the country in 2023 will reach 710.3 million, which is 1.63% more than in 2022.
Monthly ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) in China will reach $5.6.
Key growth factors this year include active government licensing; large user spending on already released games; and continued access of players to unlicensed games on PC and consoles.
As of October 30 this year, the government issued licenses for 844 games. In 2022, 512 licenses were issued, and in 2021 - 755.
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Chinese companies reduced investments in foreign companies this year, focusing on the local market.
China is the world's largest esports market. There are over 400 million esports fans in the country, and the industry's volume is $445 million.
Forecast for 2027
It is expected that the Chinese market will grow to $56.7 billion in 2027, with an average annual growth rate of about 4.5%.
In 2027, there will be 734.6 million players in China, with an expected 1% growth per year.
Growth in the next 4 years, according to Niko Partners' forecasts, will be driven by AI content, the launch of new games, increased spending, and the growing popularity of esports.