Back in January this year, when Arknights: Endfield first launched, Hypergryph did something cool—they opened up a brand-new map called “Wuling City.”
It’s not your typical ancient Chinese vibe that players are used to. Instead, this city feels like a futuristic blend of modern Chinese aesthetics. Overseas players actually told Hypergryph that Wuling City totally shattered their old idea that Chinese scenes are “stuck in ancient times.” And guess what? In just two weeks after launch, Arknights: Endfield pulled in over 1.2 billion yuan in global revenue across all platforms, with overseas PC and PS sales accounting for 70% of that total.
Hypergryph was born in Shanghai back in 2017, and their flagship title Arknights has been running strong for years. Over the past few years, loads of game studios like Hypergryph have been making big moves overseas. And here’s the thing—Shanghai-based game companies have been stealing the spotlight. In 2025, Shanghai’s online game industry raked in 170.7 billion yuan in sales revenue, with overseas revenue hitting 30.3 billion yuan—that’s a 13.7% year-on-year jump, way above the national average.
This April, Shanghai officially rolled out the “Shanghai Measures to Support the Development of the Game and Esports Industry” (you can call it the “Game 10 Measures” for short). It’s a whole set of support policies targeting key areas. But here’s what really stands out: Shanghai became the first city in the country to propose building a “Game Export Service Platform.”
With local policies and the power of industry clustering behind them, more companies are now feeling confident about investing big in the future. In Shanghai’s diverse gaming ecosystem, studios are setting sail on a new overseas journey.
“Made in Shanghai” Goes Global
Shanghai game studios have been making waves overseas for a while now. According to Sensor Tower’s 2023 global list of top Chinese mobile game publishers by overseas revenue, six Shanghai companies cracked the top 30, and five of them landed in the top 15.
Take miHoYo, for example—a heavyweight in original IP and anime-style games. Their titles Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail have been scooping up international awards left and right, making them the undisputed poster children for Chinese game exports. As early as 2023, miHoYo’s overseas revenue already made up 50% of its total.
Why has miHoYo been turning heads in recent years? Sure, it’s about the overseas revenue growth, but it’s also about the new path they’re blazing. For a long time, Chinese game studios relied on “buying users” to win overseas. Now, cultural content has become a major advantage for many companies going global.
A miHoYo spokesperson told us, “We’ve always been focused on building original IPs, drawing inspiration from China’s rich traditional culture. From ‘Liyue’ in Genshin Impact to ‘Xianzhou’ in Honkai: Star Rail and ‘Welfare District’ in Zenless Zone Zero, we’re constantly reimagining traditional elements to help younger players connect with and fall in love with our cultural heritage.”
Arknights: Endfield is another great example of Hypergryph’s cultural experiments in gaming. Dong Xiao, Party Secretary of Shanghai Hypergryph Network Technology Co., Ltd., told us that in designing Wuling City, they used “water” as a carrier—a super universal symbol of Eastern culture. Water represents inclusiveness and fluidity, emotions that players worldwide can instantly relate to. Dong Xiao believes that this kind of cultural depth, naturally woven into the gameplay, not only resonates more with overseas players but also gives Chinese culture a more vibrant expression in a global context.
Over the years, Shanghai game studios have explored almost every overseas growth path—covering different product types and market directions—and pieced together a more complete map of Chinese game exports.
From their early strengths in SLG (strategy games) to the shooter Far Cry 84, Lilith Games—one of the top-tier exporters—is trying to break through by diversifying genres. Meanwhile, Papergames, which focuses on female-oriented games, has taken Infinity Nikki and Love and Deepspace global, pulling in a total of 8.4 billion yuan in revenue in 2025. These two companies are based in Xuhui and Yangpu districts respectively.
It’s not just the studios that started hunting for overseas opportunities from day one. Some companies have only recently found new growth by going global. Take Century Huatong, an A-share listed game company headquartered in Shanghai’s Pudong area, along with its subsidiary Shengqu Games. Over the past two years, they’ve made going global a core strategy. In the first half of 2025, Century Huatong’s overseas revenue hit 8.958 billion yuan, accounting for 52.06% of total revenue—marking the first time overseas income surpassed domestic sales. Overseas has become their biggest market.
Wang Zhenyong, Vice President of Public Affairs at Century Huatong, shared with us that this milestone shows their global strategy has entered a new phase. “On the product side, we started as a casual game player, but now we’re running a dual-track strategy of ‘strategy + casual.’” Wang revealed that they’ve set up local teams in key markets like the U.S., Europe, Japan, and South Korea to handle community management, user feedback, and event planning. Moving forward, they’ll be linking up with more overseas partners to expand further.
Where Does This Fertile Ground Come From?
When it comes to figuring out the best export model, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. But for Shanghai, the underlying foundation is what makes everything possible.
In July 2025, the music from Arknights echoed through the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York. At an event called “City Summer Arts Festival · Shanghai Day,” Hypergryph—as the only game company in the delegation—brought game music to an international art stage.
In Shanghai, gaming is seen as a strategically valuable industry worth nurturing for the long haul. Since 2014, Shanghai has taken the lead in piloting localized management of domestic online games, streamlining approval processes and shortening the time from development to market. Various districts in Shanghai have also rolled out early support policies, offering paired assistance to game companies.
The clustering of companies and the establishment of systems often go hand in hand. Today, Shanghai’s game industry has formed an ecosystem with core leaders, multiple support points, and unique characteristics. Xuhui District, powered by giants like miHoYo and Lilith, contributes about 40% of the city’s output. Yangpu District, relying on rising stars like Bilibili and Papergames, is growing fast and accounts for over 20% of the city’s output. Jing’an District has a stronghold in esports, hosting companies like TJ Sports and Riot Games.
On the export front, Shanghai is also thinking about how to boost the city’s global influence. At industry events, Shanghai has been hosting ChinaJoy, CIGDC (China International Game Developers Conference), and the Global Esports Conference for years, turning these exhibitions into key resource hubs. On a local level, the clustering of game companies, combined with Shanghai’s cultural tourism appeal, allows studios and players to connect deeply, laying the groundwork for game exports.
Sunborn Network, founded in 2015, is one of the earliest Chinese studios focused on anime-style games. In May 2016, their first strategy collection mobile game Girls’ Frontline officially launched and became the first Chinese mobile game to top the iOS bestseller chart in South Korea. Last May, Sunborn teamed up with the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association Game Museum to showcase the growth of the Girls’ Frontline IP through hand-drawn exhibits and scene recreations. A Sunborn rep told us that their series of offline events in Shanghai not only strengthened ties with domestic players but also built the brand foundation for the Girls’ Frontline series overseas.
As Chinese game companies ramp up their in-house R&D, talent has become a key battleground.
Wang Zhenyong told us, “Shanghai’s talent pool covers the entire industry chain—from development and publishing to AI technology. The overall talent market is mature and vibrant. The highly clustered ecosystem in Shanghai’s game industry has had a positive impact on Century Huatong’s growth—like having a complete upstream and downstream supply chain for efficient collaboration, and dense industry exchanges that help companies quickly grasp global market trends.”
Focusing on these core elements and key links, the release of the “Game 10 Measures” once again offers precise policy support—covering capital, talent, events, and more.
The “Game 10 Measures” propose, on the financial support side, establishing a Shanghai Game Industry Investment Fund to use state capital to leverage social capital, with an initial fundraising target of about 500 million yuan, focusing on supporting small and micro teams’ innovation and entrepreneurship. On talent cultivation, they aim to deepen industry-education integration, support universities in setting up game-related programs, and provide over 1,000 internship positions for college students annually. At the same time, they plan to turn flagship events like ChinaJoy and CIGDC into “world living rooms” that connect global wisdom, attracting more outstanding overseas companies and international organizations to develop in Shanghai.
An Even Bigger Journey Ahead
After the global explosion of the AAA game Black Myth: Wukong, confidence in China’s game industry got a huge shot in the arm. But even before that, the trend of Chinese games going overseas had already started shifting.
The Sunborn rep told us, “After 2020, overseas competition intensified, and market choices became clearly divided. For example, the Middle East and Latin America emerged as promising new growth areas. In mature markets like Japan, South Korea, Europe, and the U.S., the bar has been raised to full-on competition in content quality and aesthetic understanding. More importantly, whereas before studios would just do a ‘second export’ of their domestic hits, now they’re moving to ‘global simultaneous releases.’ This reflects the maturity of domestic publishing systems and confidence in product strength.”
According to the “2025 China Game Industry Report,” in 2025, the actual overseas sales revenue of Chinese self-developed games reached $20.455 billion, a year-on-year increase of 10.23%, and the scale has exceeded 100 billion yuan for six consecutive years.
Along with that, the overall position of Chinese game companies in the overseas ecosystem has changed.
At the 2026 GDC conference held this March, Wang Zhenyong noticed that Chinese game companies weren’t just showing off their blockbuster hits—they were also sharing R&D and operational experience. Overseas peers were shifting their focus from “how much money you made” to “how did you do it?” One telling detail: international colleagues would walk up to their booth and proactively ask Century Huatong how they managed to run both SLG and casual game tracks simultaneously, and how they built a data-driven user acquisition system. More and more overseas studios are looking to partner with Chinese companies, leveraging their R&D and operational expertise to conquer global markets.
But with opportunity comes a bigger battlefield. Seeing the growth in exports, game companies now face more hurdles to overcome.
Going global isn’t just about developing and publishing game content—there are way more complex issues to handle. The Sunborn rep told us, “With stricter global privacy protection and youth protection policies in various regions, compliance costs have risen significantly.” They believe that in terms of copyright protection, legal compliance, and overseas risk early warning, game companies are hoping for government and industry associations to provide an ‘overseas public service system.’ For example, setting up an overseas legal policy think tank to offer targeted legal aid and compliance guidance, helping reduce the legal costs and information asymmetry risks of venturing into new territories.”
That’s exactly why the “Game 10 Measures” mention that Shanghai wants to take the lead nationally in building a Game Export Service Platform.
Liu Wei, a tenured professor and doctoral supervisor at Tongji University’s Shanghai International College of Intellectual Property, has been involved in preparing this platform. Liu Wei told us that during their research, many game companies raised the need for public services. For instance, in the Southeast Asian market, studios often don’t know the local laws and regulations, and sometimes can’t even find local lawyers. On the intellectual property front, game companies face challenges with copyright compliance—like whether AI-generated content can be protected by copyright. Different countries and regions have different rules.
The goal of building this platform is to tackle these pain points. Liu Wei explained that the platform’s information services will focus on three core layers: overseas market legal and case information, integration of domestic legal resources and compliance guidelines, and aggregation of industry event information. For example, the team will collect laws and regulations related to game copyright and operations from key export countries and regions, organize them, and put them on the platform. Additionally, industry organizations like the Shanghai Online Game Industry Association and the Shanghai Online Game Industry Intellectual Property Protection Co-consultation Mechanism regularly hold training, lectures, and exchange events—the platform will keep that info updated.
Individual product successes have proven the strength of Chinese game companies’ export capabilities. But in the next phase, turning those individual wins into sustainable output requires more systematic effort. Several game company leaders we interviewed told us that in their upcoming overseas plans, they’ll ramp up investment in localization and compliance.
Starting from Shanghai, these ambitious game companies are ready to keep moving forward.
