China’s esports industry recorded steady growth in 2025, with total revenue reaching ¥29.331bn (~$4.02bn / ~£3.19bn), marking a year-on-year increase of 6.4%, according to figures revealed at the 2025 China Esports Industry Annual Conference.
The data was published on December 4th during the conference in Beijing’s Shijingshan District by Tang Jiajun, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association, Secretary-General of the Game Working Committee and Director of the Esports Working Committee.
Tang said the industry continued to progress along three core tracks — mainstream adoption, cross-industry integration and international expansion — while also strengthening governance and talent development.
“China’s esports industry will take ecosystem co-construction as its main development theme, uphold its social responsibilities and promote the healthy and orderly growth of the industry,” Tang said at the conference.
Livestreaming Dominates Revenue Share
According to the report, livestreaming remained the largest revenue driver in China’s esports economy, accounting for 80.81% of total industry income. Tournament operations, clubs and other business segments made up the remainder.
China’s esports audience also continued to grow, surpassing 495m users in 2025, representing a 1.06% increase compared to the previous year. By game genre, shooters accounted for the largest share of esports revenue at 28.3%. Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) and sports titles followed at 14.1% each.
From a platform perspective, mobile esports titles dominated the market at 58.6%, followed by PC client games at 25.3%. Hybrid titles available across both platforms accounted for 12.1%, while browser-based esports titles represented 4.0%.
Among the top ten mobile esports games by revenue, shooting and MOBA titles were the most prevalent, featuring three shooters and two MOBA games. On PC, six of the ten most popular client-based esports titles were shooters.
Offline Events Continue to Expand
In 2025, China hosted 142 non-exhibition provincial-level esports tournaments featuring professional players — an increase of 18 events compared to the previous year. More than half (54%) were held fully offline, 37% used a hybrid online-offline format and 9% were entirely online.
Event host cities were concentrated mainly in East and Southwest China. Shanghai led the country, hosting 19.2% of offline esports events, followed by Chengdu at 10.6% and Chongqing at 7.9%.
By the end of 2025, China was home to 165 active esports clubs. Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen were the only cities with ten or more clubs, with Shanghai retaining the largest concentration. More than half of clubs (54.3%) competed in just one esport, while 22.8% participated in two titles. A further 6.3% competed in three, and 7.1% were involved across four different esports.
The report also highlighted China’s continued expansion into overseas esports markets, particularly across Southeast Asia (SEA), the Middle East and Latin America. Tournaments for domestically developed esports titles attracted tens of millions of international viewers, with peak concurrent viewership for top-tier events exceeding 4.13m.
Looking ahead, Tang said the industry will focus on strengthening high-quality content supply, expanding scenario-based ‘esports+’ collaborations and deepening global cooperation to push China’s esports ecosystem toward ‘a higher-level structure.’
The China Esports Industry Annual Conference is jointly backed by national industry organisations and serves as one of the country’s most important annual benchmark reports for esports performance, policy development and market direction.
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