Staff Reporter |
Editor | Wen Shuqi
This marks Nitish Mathur’s fourth trip to ChinaJoy.
On the second day of the expo, in Hall W4 of the Shanghai New International Expo Centre, Nitish Mathur kept getting up from his seat to chat with curious clients and fellow industry folks. Compared to other exhibitors, this marketing company from Singapore didn’t snag a massive booth, but their mission here was crystal clear—hunt down new clients.
Adstacks Media is a performance-driven digital marketing agency. Simply put, they whip up all sorts of ad campaigns for brands to help them reel in users. For gamers, ChinaJoy is a buzzing, high-energy meetup; for companies like Adstacks Media, it’s more like a golden bridge connecting the dots across the global gaming industry.
When they first joined ChinaJoy back in 2022, Nitish Mathur got to know some Chinese companies right on the expo floor, and those initial handshakes turned into real collaborations. Later on, they even flew to cities like Xi’an and Guangzhou to meet partners face-to-face in their offices. That’s exactly why they keep coming back to ChinaJoy.
He told NUPIAO that coming to ChinaJoy serves two big purposes: one is to catch up with existing clients, and the other is to scout for fresh customers and partners. Since their clientele spans the globe, Nitish Mathur, as COO, finds himself at a trade show almost every single month—but no two events are alike. In his view, ChinaJoy ranks among the largest gaming expos out there, making it a prime spot to sniff out industry partners. He noticed that a big chunk of the folks dropping by their booth these few days hail from the gaming world, especially the H5 gaming niche.
With AI and going-global as this year’s twin themes at ChinaJoy, the level of overseas participation is a fascinating lens to gauge how much weight China’s gaming industry carries worldwide. According to data reports released during ChinaJoy, from January to June this year, the U.S., Japan, and South Korea accounted for 32.31%, 14.05%, and 7.48% of overseas revenue from self-developed mobile games, respectively—totaling 53.84% combined. Meanwhile, Germany, the UK, and France together took a 10.14% slice, showing slight growth, which signals that the European market’s importance is steadily climbing.
NUPIAO learned from official sources that nearly 900 companies exhibited at this year’s ChinaJoy, with over 200 of them being foreign-invested firms hailing from 39 countries and regions. Among them, multiple overseas government-backed delegations set up shop, including groups from Poland, Spain, the Philippines, the Korea Creative Content Agency, and the Seoul Business Agency.
Right at the entrance of the business negotiation area, AI-powered ad firm Moloco’s logo was hard to miss. This company isn’t a first-timer here, but with China’s gaming exports still on the rise, they’re doubling down on the Chinese market. This year, Moloco built a sizable booth at ChinaJoy and even added a second-floor meeting lounge to keep the deal flow smooth. Moloco told NUPIAO that they’ve already locked in several partnership intentions during the expo.
Compared to the big players’ grand setups, small and mid-sized teams like Adstacks Media might actually show a more authentic side of ChinaJoy’s global appeal.
Inside the halls, companies that grabbed booths on the fringes come from all over the world, using no-frills setups and bold branding posters to catch the eye of potential clients.Nitish Mathur told NUPIAO that Adstacks Media has a team of just around 50 people. The cost of showing up at ChinaJoy isn’t sky-high, but they won’t splurge like the giants on fancy booths either. For small and mid-sized outfits like theirs, brand exposure takes a backseat—the real prize is a shot at cracking a new market or meeting a client they’ve never even imagined. That’s the biggest return ChinaJoy can offer.
A business rep at the booth of出海 marketing firm Yeahmobi told NUPIAO that they’ve been swamped with overseas visitors these two days. The first batch is mainly overseas marketing agencies, hoping to tap into Chinese service providers’ existing global networks to expand Chinese brands’ overseas push or fill gaps in their own market coverage. The second batch is channel and media network companies—they hold the traffic resources and want to connect with more Chinese advertisers through partnerships.
She also noticed a clear shift at this year’s ChinaJoy: the number of third-party companies offering services around game globalization has grown, spanning ad marketing, payments, all the way to compliance services.
Now in its 23rd year, ChinaJoy is clearly evolving its role.
In the early days, this expo was mostly seen as a stage for China’s gaming industry to show off new titles and grab players’ attention. But as the industry has ballooned and more companies jump into global competition, ChinaJoy has morphed into a full-fledged industry hub that ties together game development, publishing, marketing, tech services, and investors.
One ad industry insider told NUPIAO that ChinaJoy is no longer just a gaming expo for them—it’s become a vital window into Chinese companies’ globalization needs. “Even cross-border clients from totally unrelated industries are keeping an eye on this event,” they said. On opening day, plenty of the visitors they hosted were from e-commerce and short-drama sectors.
Especially in a city like Shanghai, which already has a rock-solid gaming industry foundation, ChinaJoy isn’t just pulling in domestic firms—it’s also attracting overseas companies that want to enter China, get a feel for the market, or hunt for global collaboration opportunities.
On one hand, Chinese gaming companies are charging further into global markets, scouting for users and growth abroad. On the other, overseas firms are wading into China, looking for local partners to team up with.
At this year’s ChinaJoy, delegations from Spain, South Korea, and other countries and regions were front and center. Notably, Korean institutions and companies are practically old friends of ChinaJoy—many game studios here aren’t first-timers.
Meanwhile, the “Games from Spain” project, spearheaded by ICEX (Spain’s Trade and Investment office) together with the Spanish Economic and Commercial Office in Shanghai, brought 12 Spanish companies and institutions to ChinaJoy for the very first time. Booth staff told NUPIAO that these companies run the gamut—some do game development, others make esports gear, and a few focus on AI tech. Every single participant flew all the way from Spain to Shanghai just for this expo.
In this kind of two-way exchange, ChinaJoy is taking on a whole new meaning.
