(Yicai) Jan. 16 -- China continues to gain ground in the global gaming industry, with many Chinese video games seeing a surge in revenue from overseas markets last year, according to multiple rankings and reports.

China's video gaming sales overseas rose 13.4 percent to USD18.6 billion last year from the previous one, according to a report by the Game Publishing Committee of the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association and Gamma Data released last month.

Among global markets, China saw the most mobile game income come from the United States, Japan, South Korea, Germany, and the UK, with the first three accounting for 31 percent, 17.3 percent, and 8.9 percent, respectively, the report said. In addition, Saudi Arabia entered the top 10.

As the growth of the global gaming industry slows, mid-to-light spec games are becoming the new trend for overseas expansion, Tang Jiajun, deputy secretary-general of the CADPA and secretary-general of the Game Publishing Committee, said at an industry conference. Developers are also increasingly inclined to make simpler, lower-cost, and more compact lightweight games, Tang added.

Last November, 61 of the top 100 highest-grossing mobile games worldwide were made by Chinese developers, data from market intelligence agency Sensor Tower showed. In addition, 34 Chinese mobile game publishers ranked among the top 100 by revenue last October.

A report from Singaporean technology platform Mobvista showed that Chinese mobile games accounted for about 7 percent of downloads among the global top 5,000 in the second half of last year.

Century Games' Whiteout Survival remained at the top of Sensor Tower's list of successful Chinese mobile games abroad last month. The strategy game has grossed over USD1.8 billion worldwide since releasing in 2023, with 88 percent of revenue coming from overseas markets.

Legend of Mushroom, an action-adventure role-playing game published by 4399, earned USD378 million abroad in the first six months of last year, according to a report jointly released by DataEye and DianDian. Chinese gaming giant Tencent Holdings reported its overseas game revenue jumped 9 percent to CNY42 billion (USD5.7 billion) in the three quarters ended Sept. 30 from a year earlier.

Black Myth: Wukong, the hit action role-playing game developed by China's Game Science, sold around 28 million copies last year, racking up CNY9 billion (USD1.2 billion) in revenue. Overseas players accounted for about one-quarter of the game's total, according to gaming data analysis site Gamalytics.

However, global competition in the gaming industry continues to intensify, and Chinese game developers face many challenges. For example, the unstable macro environment and the complexities of regional markets can hinder small and medium-sized companies' global expansion while customer acquisition, soaring marketing costs, localization hurdles, and other issues remain prevalent on the micro level.

Europe, Southeast Asia, and North America are the hot spots for mobile game ad placements, a spokesperson for Mobvista noted. Southeast Asia remains the largest customer acquisition market for Chinese mobile game developers, while South Asia and Central America are relatively easier to scale, the person added.

Regarding monetization, brand owners focus on in-game advertisements, with considerable monetization potential for in-app ads, the spokesperson pointed out.

Editor: Martin Kadiev