Cities hosting gaming companies are closely watching Shanghai. During the recent Qingming Festival holiday, Shanghai released the "Several Measures of Shanghai Municipality to Support the Development of the Gaming and Esports Industry," invigorating industry professionals. The package, dubbed the "Gaming Hub Ten Measures," introduces systematic support policies across ten key areas including industrial clustering, overseas expansion services, original high-quality content, technological empowerment, and esports capability enhancement, heralding optimal development opportunities for the sector.
The policy aims to build a complete industrial chain. By 2025, Shanghai's online gaming industry revenue reached 170.7 billion yuan, a 9.57% year-on-year increase, surpassing the national average of 8.41%. Overseas sales revenue hit 30.3 billion yuan, growing 13.7%, also outperforming the national market. The significance of the measures lies not in direct funding but in systematically integrating the entire chain from R&D, publishing, and global expansion to tournaments, derivatives, and convergence, thereby cultivating new quality productive forces. Commentators note this represents Shanghai's second major institutional reinforcement for the gaming and esports industry, following its pioneering pilot program for localized management of domestic online games.
The policy designates core functional zones—Xuhui's Hongmei-Caohejing National Development Zone and West Bund, Yangpu's Dachuangzhi and Binjiang, and Jing'an's Daning and Shibei—to establish world-influential gaming and esports industrial clusters. Qualified industrial parks and incubators may receive up to 5 million yuan in annual support. Among these, Xuhui District stands out for its industry leadership and international competitiveness. Contributing approximately 40% of the city's gaming output value, Xuhui hosts leading firms like miHoYo, Lilith Games, and Hypergryph, with the Hongmei sub-district exhibiting particularly vibrant growth.
As a core hub for Shanghai's and the nation's gaming industry, Xuhui has leveraged its solid industrial foundation, mature service systems, and precise policy guidance to foster a landscape where industry leaders drive growth alongside thriving small and micro-enterprises. In 2025, the district's gaming industry output exceeded 78 billion yuan. Building on its status as one of the first national cultural export bases, Xuhui has achieved continuous breakthroughs in game globalization, emerging as a key force in China's digital culture exports. Hypergryph, located in Hongmei, exemplifies this success. Its self-developed title "Arknights: Endfield" achieved remarkable performance upon global multi-platform launch, generating over 1.2 billion yuan in cumulative revenue within two weeks of release.
Xuhui has cultivated a gaming export ecosystem characterized by "supportive policies, robust services, and dynamic enterprises." The synergistic "twin-engine" effect of the West Bund and Caohejing Development Zone has attracted over 70 leading gaming companies, establishing a complete industrial chain spanning R&D, publishing, and operations.
Social acceptance has significantly improved. The Gaming Hub Ten Measures not only chart a course for Shanghai's gaming and esports development but also ensure policy practicality and implementability. Industry insiders note the most impactful change is the dramatic increase in social acceptance compared to previous years. Five years ago, the global gaming industry faced downturns, with Seoul—once hailed as a gaming capital—facing skepticism from South Korea's economic circles. Yet during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Shanghai's gaming industry surged unexpectedly. Following the measures' introduction, confidence in Shanghai's potential as a global gaming capital has strengthened.
miHoYo founder and president Liu Wei stated that Shanghai's policy design balances macroeconomic vision with practical operability, providing a highly predictable development environment for long-term-oriented enterprises like miHoYo. The "gaming+" initiative serves as a practical engine for enhancing societal recognition of the industry's spillover effects. Liu highlighted miHoYo's ongoing explorations in this area, citing last year's "Honkai: Star Rail LIVE" concert during Labor Day and this year's "Genshin Impact FES" carnival during New Year's holidays, both attracting numerous out-of-town visitors and stimulating peripheral cultural tourism consumption—vivid examples of "gaming + culture, tourism, commerce, sports, and exhibitions."
International competition remains intense. Domestic think tank executives observe that China's gaming industry has transitioned from rapid expansion to a high-quality development phase emphasizing content enhancement, technological empowerment, and global cultivation, with steady growth expected this year. Supportive policies and normalized game license approvals will ensure stable supply of quality products. However, global market competition remains fierce. Currently, Chinese gaming companies compete primarily on the supply side, while lacking detailed regional analysis and operation strategies for consumer markets.
In 2025, global mobile game downloads reached 50 billion, generating $82 billion in in-app purchase revenue—a 1.4% year-on-year increase. With 225,000 new games released annually (averaging 617 daily), user acquisition and retention strategies have become critical, making it increasingly difficult for new titles to stand out.
A South Korean think tank's analysis of Shanghai gaming companies' strengths revealed strong familiarity with English, French, Japanese, and even Korean cultural contexts among Chinese designers, but relative unfamiliarity with Arabic. Consequently, Korean authorities actively supported industry efforts to tap the Middle Eastern market via Dubai, with Hankuk University of Foreign Studies enhancing Arabic localization for game product pages. Unexpectedly, the outbreak of Middle East conflicts recently triggered capital outflows from Dubai. In a London think tank's latest global financial center ranking, Dubai dropped out of the top ten while Shanghai rose to sixth place. Industry exchanges involving gaming, film, and exhibitions have also paused. The Dubai Esports and Games Festival, scheduled for May 8-24 as its largest edition yet, faces uncertainty after Korean companies received invitations.
Targeting new overseas markets has become a recurring theme in government work reports. Based on consumption structures, intellectual property considerations, market backgrounds, and cultural exchange needs, Germany emerges as a recommended new market. Chancellor Merz's spring visit to China yielded cooperation agreements spanning green transition, customs, sports, media, and commerce, heralding a new phase of bilateral relations. As cooperation deepens, expansion into high-tech, business, and consumer sectors is anticipated.
Discussions with German think tanks highlighted Shanghai's gaming industry advantages, generating interest while yielding insights into Germany's gaming landscape, market consumption capacity, professional exhibitions, and recent policies. According to the German Games Industry Association's 2025 Annual Report, the sector shows exceptional optimism, with over half of German gaming companies forecasting positive growth in 2026. Twenty-nine percent anticipate better conditions than the previous year—double the 2025 figure. The association is actively lobbying for new policy support, citing compelling data: every euro invested in the gaming industry yields 3.4 euros in additional tax and social security contributions, 4.8 euros in extra investment, and 8.7 euros in added value—near-doubling figures demonstrating substantial returns.
The Gamescom exhibition in Cologne ranks among the world's top three gaming events alongside E3 and Tokyo Game Show. The 2025 edition featured over 50 Chinese exhibitors—10 more than previous years—setting a new record. As Xinhua News Agency noted, "From enriching content to growing influence, from active globalization to deepening China-Europe cooperation, Chinese games are advancing toward Europe and the world with increasing confidence." With European markets opening up, Shanghai enterprises may achieve success by the summer of 2026.
Comments