Gamescom is taking place in Germany this week between August 26-30, starting with a two-hour opening show hosted by Geoff Keighley that showcased new gameplay from titles such as Final Fantasy VII Revelation, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt remastered, and Gears of War E-Day. One of the more notable aspects of the show was the sheer number of video games showcased by China and Korea based game developers, who have traditionally been overshadowed at events like Gamescom by traditional North American, European, or Japanese developers.
Why this matters: Niko Partners counted more than 20 games during the opening show from China and Korea based game developers, including the unveiling of Nodus Fall from miHoYo, its new co-op action game, and Project Zeta from Krafton, its 4-team tactical hero arena brawler. While Chinese and Korean developers have traditionally dominated in the MMO and mobile space, we continue to see more premium AAA games, multi-platform titles, and genre diversification from these developers, who are now competing with established studios from around the world.
Livestreaming Tracker July 2026 Highlights: miHoYo’s RPG Portfolio Leads China’s Livestreaming Ranking
RPG titles dominated China’s livestreaming landscape in July 2026, ranking among the month’s most-watched content. According to Niko Partners’ China Games & Livestreaming Tracker, RPG remained one of the leading genres by viewership, driven by strong performance across miHoYo’s portfolio. Its three RPG titles collectively generated nearly 160 million in Niko Index viewership, placing all three among the top five most-watched RPGs in China during the month.
Meet Niko Partners at Tokyo Game Show
Niko Partners is heading to Tokyo Game Show 2026. Niko’s Darang Candra Director for Southeast Asia and East Asia Research is looking forward to connect and share our latest insights at Japan’s largest gaming event. See you there!
Love and Deepspace sees player spending rebound following new update
Papergames’ Love and Deepspace briefly returned to #5 on China’s iOS game revenue chart following the launch of its major Po Zhen Zi update on August 17, 2026, providing an early indication of renewed player spending after the disruption caused by the Valko controversy. The rebound follows a difficult July, when third party estimates indicated that mobile revenue declined nearly 70% MoM. The decline coincided with controversy surrounding planned character Valko, who was ultimately removed following extensive backlash from Chinese players. The decision also generated opposition overseas, where some players organized campaigns calling for the character’s reinstatement.
Why this matters: Po Zhen Zi represents the game’s first major opportunity to rebuild spending momentum following the controversy. Initial monetization was strong, with Love and Deepspace jumping from #85 to #5 on China’s iOS game revenue chart following the update. However, the title subsequently fell out of the top 10 relatively quickly. While this indicates the game retains a sizable core audience willing to spend around major character and narrative updates despite the recent controversy, the short duration of its top 10 position means it is too early to interpret the increase as a sustained recovery. Right now, this looks to be one of the worst performing updates indicating that the controversy is still having a material impact.
Link to original article (Chinese) →
Esports World Cup wins for Chinese team AG.AL
China based AG.AL has won the 2026 Esports World Cup Club Championship, finishing ahead of defending champion Saudi Arabia based Team Falcons after seven weeks of competition in Paris. AG.AL received the championship trophy and $7 million first place prize. The 2026 EWC brought together more than 2,000 players representing 200 clubs and over 100 countries, competing across 25 tournaments covering 24 games. The event offered a record $75 million prize pool, reinforcing its position as the largest multi title esports competition by prize money.
Why this matters: Despite having to relocate from Riyadh to Paris at the last minute, the tournament has been a notable success for the Esports Foundation with more than 850 million viewers tuning in across 100 broadcasts and OTT partners across 47 languages, generating 440 million hours watched. Peak concurrent viewership reached 4.3 million during the League of Legends competition. Approximately 175,000 tickets were sold, up 94% YoY, while Fan Fest, tournament venues, and wider city activations generated a combined 2 million visits.
Krafton expands in-game advertising business in India
Krafton Ad Platform India (KADP India) has launched an advertising technology business in India, initially taking responsibility for advertising operations within Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI). The company was established in April 2026 following Krafton’s acquisition of a majority stake in South Korean adtech company Neptune in April 2025. Under its partnership with Krafton, KADP India will manage BGMI‘s advertising inventory planning and design, campaign delivery, optimization, and operations. However, its longer term ambitions extend beyond Krafton’s own games, with plans to partner with additional premium digital media platforms in India.
Why this matters: BGMI has accumulated more than 260 million registered users in India since its 2021 launch, giving the platform a substantial gaming audience for brands seeking to reach younger, digitally engaged consumers. Krafton has already developed BGMI into an advertising and brand collaboration platform with partnerships including Royal Enfield, Mahindra, Hero MotoCorp, and PepsiCo, demonstrating interest from major Indian automotive and consumer brands in reaching the game’s audience. Establishing dedicated advertising infrastructure could improve monetization per user while giving Krafton greater control over brand partnerships and advertising data.
AI only delivers publicly available data. Don’t build your video game strategy without diving deeper.
NetEase reports Q2 2026 earnings
NetEase reported Q2 2026 revenue of RMB 30.1 billion ($4.44 billion), up 7.9% YoY. Operating profit was RMB 12.1 billion ($1.78 billion), up 33.4% YoY. Operating profit margin increased to 40% from 32% last year. Revenue from Games and related value added services reached RMB 25.0 billion ($3.69 billion), up 9.7% YoY. Revenue from online games was RMB 24.4 billion ($3.60 billion) up 10.3% YoY while revenue from value added services declined 9.2% YoY to RMB 601 million ($89 million). Total games gross profit was RMB 19.0 billion ($2.8 billion), up 18.9% YoY with margin at 76.1% compared to 70.2% in the same period last year. The YoY increase in online games revenue was attributable to higher net revenues from self-developed games, such as the Fantasy Westward Journey franchise and Where Winds Meet.
Why this matters: NetEase continues to see strong growth from its legacy franchises including the Fantasy Westward Journey franchise, Identity V, Eggy Party, Sword of Justice (Justice Online) and Where Winds Meet. In terms of new games, Sea of Remnants launched in China in July 2026, while development of Ananta and Blood Message remain on track. On the conference call, NetEase spoke about how Sea of Remnants had received a lot of critical feedback from players, with the company attributing this to poor onboarding and a high learning curve for the roguelike mechanics. On AI, NetEase sees GenAI as an amplifier that can accelerate the development speed of its games and improve the user experience for players.
Perfect World reports positive H1 2026 earnings driven by Neverness to Everness
Perfect World reported H1 2026 revenue of RMB 2.75 billion ($409 million) and a net loss attributable to shareholders of RMB 118 million ($17.6 million). The company attributed the loss primarily to accounting timing associated with the launch of Neverness to Everness (NTE), where substantial marketing expenses were recognized immediately while player spending is recognized as revenue over the estimated player lifecycle. Total player spending for NTE has now exceeded RMB 2 billion ($298 million), up from more than RMB 1.4 billion ($208 million) as of June 30. Overseas revenue accounted for nearly 60% of cumulative spending. Perfect World is continuing development across MMO and newer game categories, increasing overseas expansion, and using smaller development teams to explore new opportunities with lower investment risk.
Why this matters: Notably, fans have called out NTE and Perfect World for using generative AI elements in the game. Most recently an image of a seahorse was found to have a watermark for the free version of Doubao AI. Perfect World has previously admitted that AI tools are used for background images and not the main characters or story elements. However, this does not seem to have impacted spending in a material way.
Link to original article (Chinese) →
MBC announces 1001: Threads of Mizan based on Arab lore
MBC Game Studio, owned by Saudi Arabian broadcast company MBC, has unveiled its first game titled 1001: Threads of Mizan. The game is a sprawling Arabian fantasy adventure with colossal boss battles and cooperative play with up to three players. It’s being branded as a AAA game and is set to release on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC. The studio is led by CEO Daniel Engelhardt and COO Trevor Williams, alongside a global team drawn from acclaimed studios including BioWare, Hi-Rez, Ubisoft Montréal and Bungie.
Why this matters: MBC Group is the largest media company in the Middle East and first started exploring the video games industry in 2022 when it signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia’s NEOM to create a AAA game development studio in the region. The initiative is part of a larger drive to grow the games industry in Saudi Arabia in line with Vision 2030 and showcase its stories via games on the global stage. Chinese developers proved they could compete in the premium AAA game space with Black Myth: Wukong, and MBC Group is now looking to do the same with Threads of Mizan.
Alibaba sells Lingxi Games to Trustar Capital for more than $1.5 billion
Alibaba has sold Lingxi Games to private equity firm Trustar Capital in a transaction valued at more than $1.5 billion, as Alibaba withdraws from development to concentrate investment on core ecommerce and AI businesses. Lingxi was established as a standalone brand in 2019, building on Alibaba’s existing games operations and its $1 billion acquisition of Ejoy in 2017. Ejoy was founded by former NetEase COO Zhan Zhonghui and became an important foundation for Alibaba’s attempt to establish itself as a major Chinese game developer. Other large technology companies including ByteDance have also sold off studios like Moonton recently, although we note that it continues to operate an internal game development business.
Why this matters: Lingxi’s biggest commercial success was strategy game Three Kingdoms Tactics, which has generated more than $2 billion globally. However, revenue from the title has declined as it has matured, and Lingxi has struggled to develop a second game of comparable scale. Its position within Alibaba also limited the resources available for larger and potentially higher risk investments. The acquisition could provide Lingxi with greater operational independence and potentially more flexibility to invest in new products outside Alibaba’s strategic priorities.
South Korean esports org DRX launches division for game publishing
South Korean esports organization DRX is expanding into game publishing and scripted entertainment as part of a broader strategy to develop into a digital entertainment and IP company. DRX has signed agreements related to two unannounced K-drama projects and is preparing to publish its first game, a casual mobile title. Production will be led by marketing agency WebsCreative, which joined the DRX group in 2022 and is now being expanded into a content IP subsidiary covering game publishing, content development, investment, and production.
Why this matters: The strategy represents a significant diversification from DRX’s core competitive gaming operations. The organization is best known internationally through its esports teams, particularly in League of Legends and Valorant, providing an established gaming audience and brand that could potentially support customer acquisition and promotion for its own entertainment products. DRX, like many esports teams today, are aiming to diversify away from relying primarily on the economics of operating professional esports teams.
Events
Tokyo Game Show
September 17-18, 2026 (Business Day)
Tokyo, Japan
Attendee: Darang Candra
LA Games Conference
September 30-October 1, 2026
Los Angeles, USA
Speaker: Lisa Hanson
Attendee: Alexander Champlin
Use code NikoPartners20 for 20% off
Contact us to set up a meeting →
