China’s Video Game Industry Posts First Drop in Five Years

What’s new: China’s video game industry posted a 10.3% decline in 2022 sales to 265.9 billion yuan ($39 billion), the first drop in five years, according to a report by the China Game Industry Annual Conference.

Total users dropped 0.33% in 2022 to 664 million, the report said. Sales of mobile games shrank 14.4% year-on-year to 193 billion yuan.

Sales weakened as the pandemic impeded new product development and the slowing economy affected companies’ financing and users’ spending, according to the report. Rising competition overseas also hurt Chinese game companies, it said.