After the tempestuous year that was 2022 for gaming in China, things are beginning to look a little brighter for the local developers and publishers; in February 2023, they comprised 40 of the top 100 revenue earners in the mobile games space.

Revenue rising

As reported by South China Morning Post, recent Sensor Tower data shows that the top 40 Chinese mobile game publishers brought in $1.85 billion in revenue last month, demonstrating a positive turnaround after game sales fell by 10.33 percent in 2022.

Sensor Tower is predicting growing sales in China this year, with global revenue across the App Store and Play Store expected to be $81 billion.

Between the licence freezes (since ended), restrictions for young gamers, livestreaming limitations and more last year, Chinese companies have begun targetting foreign markets. Tencent’s Street Figther: Duel, for example, saw a Western release last month after originally being a Chinese exclusive.

Also in February, more than 33 percent of revenues from the App Store and Play Store were accrued by developers from China. Tencent continues to lead the charge in revenue, although the publisher did fall from its position as China’s biggest company last year.

The hugely successful Genshin Impact is continuing to do well for developer miHoYo, with its revenue having hit an 11-month high in February and landing miHoYo in the third spot among Chinese developers in terms of revenue. The game’s earnings rose by 18.5 percent from the month prior, when it further stamped its mark as a mainstay of the mobile industry with its surpassing $4 billion in lifetime revenue.

By its second anniversary, Genshin Impact had already reached $3.6 billion in revenue with 32 percent of this coming from players in China. The title also reached the $1 billion milestone faster than Pokémon Go. Whether miHoYo’s highly anticipated Honkai: Star Rail will recapture this success remains to be seen.