From July 26th to 29th, 2024, the 21st China International Digital Interactive Entertainment Exhibition (ChinaJoy) was held at the Shanghai New International Expo Center (SNIEC). As the biggest gaming and entertainment exhibition, ChinaJoy not only covers games, but also various fields of digital entertainment and technology including animation, film, music, esports, and smart devices.

This year's ChinaJoy was grand in scale with the exhibition area covering a full 130,000 square meters and attracting over 367,000 visitors and 743 exhibitors. The event attracted participants from all over the world, with over 300 overseas (foreign-funded) enterprises and over 8,000 overseas visitors attending the event. 

Compared to ChinaJoy 2023, this year boasted 8% more visitors and nearly 50% more exhibitors, which just goes to show how this keystone event is the place to be for all things gaming and technology in Asia. 

Besides the exhibition, a series of forum and conference were held during ChinaJoy including China Game Developers Conference, China Digital Entertainment Congress, Unity Global Developer Conference, Gaming & AI Developer Summit, and more.

Read on to see what Mistplay got up to at ChinaJoy 2023 and some key trends and takeaways from the event. 

The Mistplay booth

For the second time, Mistplay was representing mobile gaming loyalty in full-force with a booth in the B2B area of the exhibition. Over the three days of showtime, more 400 industry professionals came to chat about the power of player loyalty and how publishers can leverage our platform to acquire high-value players. 

We also partnered with AppsFlyer, Unity Ads, Snapchat, Moloco, and ThinkingData to host a sticker collection activity where visitors could complete the quest in each participating vendor’s booth to win prizes.

The L3V3L UPP party

On Friday night, Mistplay partnered with AppsFlyer and Snapchat to host the L3V3L UPP party at the BUND, Shanghai. As the can’t-miss party of ChinaJoy 2024, despite the rain, more than 900 people gathered to enjoy great drinks, engaging conversation about the mobile gaming industry, and a beautiful view of Huangpu River.

3 key trends and themes from ChinaJoy 2024

1. Findings from CGIGC’s China Gaming Industry Report shed new light on the market

According to the report, in the first half of 2024, the sales revenue of the China game market reached 147.267 billion RMB, a year-on-year increase of 2.08%, showing a relatively stable growth trend. The size of the game user base also set a new record by reaching 674 million, a year-on-year increase of 0.88%.

Additionally, the report illustrates how the US, Japan, and South Korea remain the go-to overseas markets for Chinese mobile games, accounting for 33%, 15.66%, and 8.82%, respectively. While these market totals and the combined market share of Germany, the UK, and France show a slight decline, it’s worth noting that Australia and Italy have entered the top ten in terms of market share.

Genre highlights: 

• Among the top 100 self-developed mobile games in terms of overseas market revenue, Strategy games still had the highest proportion, at 32.66% while RPGs only accounted for 10.48%, a significant decrease from the previous year.
• The proportion of Simulation management games increased from 5.28% last year to 9.97% this year, with MOBA games increasing from 3.83% to 9.07%, and Idle games increasing from 3.95% to 7.5% this year. 
• Previously high-revenue Shooter titles game fell to 7.60%, and Casual games dropped to 3.92%. Both types of products saw a significant decline in revenue.

👀Related reading: The 2024 Mobile Gaming Spender Report

2. AIGC is breaking the "impossible triangle" of reconciling cost, quality, and efficiency in game development

This year, AI has stepped out of the exploratory and testing phase to become an integral part of the game development process for many publishers. AIGC, or artificial intelligence generated content, in particular has been applied to multiple scenarios to expand upon the gaming experience such as through AI-driven NPCs, scene production, and content generation. All of this technological advancement has come together to greatly the efficiency of game content creation. 

In addition, by introducing AIGC into the UGC editor, the technology can turn every player into a creator and collaborator on a game. With this power, AIGC has not only enriched the functional experience of players but also further lowered the threshold for creation through a two-step strategy, empowering creators to create higher-quality work and experiences. 

👀 Related reading: The AI awakening: How artificial intelligence is revolutionizing mobile gaming

3. IP-based games are growing in popularity

The gaming industry has entered a phase of competition for existing market share, and the compatibility between film and television cultural content and games is high. Against this backdrop, the cross-border collaboration of Intellectual Property (IP) can provide more imaginative space for games. 

In recent years, the link between film and television elements and games has played a significant role in acquiring users, opening up markets, and resonating emotionally. Newzoo data has even uncovered that IP and brand collaborations can boost a game’s daily active users (DAU) by 11% in the first seven days of launch as the game has a built-in fanbase to capitalize on from the out-of-game brand they’re collaborating with. 

Where will we go next?

As the #1 loyalty app for mobile gamers*, we’re excited to continue discussing loyalty at the Tokyo Game Show in September (26th—29th) and G-Star in South Korea in November (14th—17th). 

Didn’t get a chance to catch us this time? Contact us to learn more about unlocking the power of player loyalty and subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on Linkedin to stay up-to-date about where you can find us and receive industry insights straight to your inbox. 

*Based on 2024 Sensor Tower Data

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