On August 26, 2026, the Cologne International Game Exhibition (Gamescom 2026) opened at the Köln Messe Center in Germany. Since the E3 Game Show has faded from the historical stage, the Cologne Game Exhibition has become the world's largest gaming exhibition.
During this exhibition, Chinese games shone brightly. The number of Chinese game companies participating reached 60, the highest ever. At the opening night of Cologne Games, Chinese games stood out, showcasing their capabilities in the preview and demonstration sessions, which attracted the attention of many overseas media. Industry insiders said that Chinese game companies are demonstrating an increasingly strong market influence.
Overseas gaming media Game File reported that although the preview session ended with works from top Japanese and Polish studios, Chinese game studios were present much more frequently than studios from any other country.
At the exhibition, several titles were unveiled, including the fantasy-realism multiplayer action game "Source Origin's Knot," the 2D open-world city-building game "Infinity," the action game "Erosion's Tide" based on Arthurian legends, the game "Animal Punk" featuring animal inhabitants in rebellion, the shooter game "Resister" set in the Anti-Japanese War era, and the "extremely wild Chinese game" "Shōwa America's Story."
A preview screenshot of "Annihilation Tide"
"The Beginning of Source Chapter Teaser Image"
The Game File indicates that these Chinese games have distinct styles, covering various genres such as fantasy action and WWII shooters. They do not limit themselves to a single visual style; there are games for mobile devices as well as those designed for consoles and PC platforms. More importantly, all these Chinese games are developed by local studios in China, rather than overseas-based studios.
"The media commented thusly: 'China showed its power at the Cologne Game Fair.'"
Resistance Trailer Screenshot
"World of US (1920-present)" Teaser Image
In the award nominations announced at the Cologne Game Show, domestic games are also highly competitive. "Eclipse: The Wave" was nominated for the Most Epic and Best Sony PlayStation Game awards. "Escape Duckkov" was nominated for the Most Entertaining award. "OPUS: Heart of My Mountain" was nominated for the Most Wholesome, Games for Impact awards, as well as the Best Nintendo Switch 2 Game award.
It is worth mentioning that among the five nominees for the Best Mobile Game award, all the shortlisted entries come from Chinese game developers.
South Korea's largest economic magazine, "Daily Economic", states that China has almost become the 'star' of this year's Cologne Games Show. Chinese games occupy an extremely important position in the exhibition lineup, showing progress both in quality and quantity, and demonstrating the potential to compete with established game studios from countries like the United States and Japan.
A industry insider directly stated: "I think, China showed strong power again this year."
Compared to Europe, America, and Japan, China's game industry started later. There is a certain gap in terms of development and production capabilities compared to these international giants. Although Chinese companies show strong competitiveness in the field of mobile games, for a long time, there have been no sufficiently impressive single-player game products available in China.
In 2024, the domestic 3A game "Black Myth: Wukong" was launched and achieved tremendous success worldwide. This marked a crucial step forward for Chinese single-player games. The success of this game is due to continuous accumulation and progress in Chinese game development technology, support from industrial policies, and an increase in consumer capabilities brought about by economic and social development.
At the gamescom Dev conference held on August 24, ASGC founder Amir Satvat stated that China's gaming industry is developing rapidly. From 2024 to the first quarter of 2026, the proportion of job openings in the gaming industry in the Asia-Pacific region increased by 10 percentage points, with China contributing most of this growth.
Sattvat also pointed out that the scale of the Chinese gaming market continues to expand. In 2025, 42% of global PC gaming revenues will come from China. During the Spring Festival, more than half of the active users on the Steam platform came from China. He emphasized that the gaming industry cannot ignore the Chinese market.
However, for domestic games to maintain their momentum and prevent the rapid development from becoming a fleeting phenomenon, how to continue producing high-quality works and establishing sustainable ecosystems remains a challenge that the entire Chinese gaming industry must address. Overcoming the "difficult climbing stage" is not the end; it marks just the beginning of Chinese games' journey towards the world and their competition in the global gaming market.
Last month, Zhang Yijun, the first vice chairman of the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association and the director of the Game Working Committee, released the "China Game Industry Report for January to June 2026". The report showed that in the first half of 2026, the actual sales revenue of the domestic game market reached 188.45 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.17%. As of June, the number of gamers in China reached 684 million, an increase of 0.82% compared to the same period last year.
According to the report, from January to June, the actual sales revenue of self-developed games in the domestic market reached 163.356 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.31%.
China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association President Sun Shoushan stated that the development of the gaming industry in China is entering a new stage characterized by 'steady growth, quality over quantity, meticulous operation, and ecological synergy'.
