(Yicai) July 30 -- The 21st China Digital Entertainment Expo and Conference, also known as ChinaJoy, has attracted a record number of visitors this year.

Some 367,000 visitors attended ChinaJoy during the four-day event ended yesterday, up 9 percent from last year’s edition and breaking the record of 364,700 visitors from 2019, according to official data released yesterday.

The Shanghai Exhibition Center was divided into two areas for ChinaJoy, one for business attendants and one for general visitors. There were 426 exhibitors in the first area and 307 in the second one, for a total of 743.

Exhibitors from overseas, including Blizzard Entertainment, Sony, SNK, and Ubisoft, accounted for 43 percent of the total, according to the data. The event also attracted nearly 8,200 foreign visitors.

The number of overseas exhibitors at ChinaJoy surged from last year, along with that of countries and regions participating, said Tang Jiajun, deputy secretary general of the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association, one of ChinaJoy’s organizers.

The CAVCA had prolific exchanges with gaming companies from Chinese Taiwan, India, Japan, Malaysia, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates and learned a lot from them, Tang noted.

US gaming giant Blizzard returned to ChinaJoy as an exhibitor this year. The developer of hit online game World of Warcraft left the Chinese market for over one year after terminating its cooperation with local game publisher NetEase. The two companies rekindled ties in April.

Blizzard set up game experience zones at its booth at ChinaJoy this year. Some key creators, including WoW’s Executive Producer Holly Longdale and Senior Director Ion Hazzikostas, attended the event to meet players, showing the importance the firm attaches to returning to the Chinese market.

ChinaJoy takes place every year in Shanghai in July or August. Since its inception in 2003, it has become one of the most influential exhibitions in the global digital entertainment industry.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Futura Costaglione