According to the annual overseas statistics released by Sensor Tower, the total revenue of Chinese mobile games in the top 30 overseas markets in 2020 totaled 9.24 billion U.S. dollars, posting an increase of 47% from 2019.
At the same time, in 2020, a total of 37 games in overseas markets have received more than 100 million U.S. dollars in revenue. Behind these 37 games, there are 26 domestic mobile game publishers - a significant increase from 2019.
Revenue growth in several major overseas markets follows the same trend. Among them, the Japanese market has surpassed the United States, becoming the leading market with the highest overseas revenue for domestic mobile games in 2020. It contributed a whopping $2.8 billion in revenue from the Top 30 games, an increase of 81% from 2019. On the other hand, last year, the revenue growth rate of overseas mobile games in South Korea and several major markets in Europe and America remained at around 50%.
Chinese games, both mobile and PC ones, are becoming popular and gaining recognition around the globe. From a 74-year-old grandma player with more than 2,000 hours of gameplay appearing in the comment section of "Time of Portia" to the first-exposure trailer of "Black Myth: Wukong” getting 9 million views and 280,000 favorable comments, Chinese games are inspiring, exciting, and hooking people worldwide.
Given the exponential rise of Chinese games, game developers are continuing to adjust their strategies to expand in overseas markets. However, they are facing challenges such as adhering to the multi-dimensional service requirements, including game localization language, advertising, and monetization.