RPG titles dominated China’s livestreaming landscape in August 2026, standing out as some of the month’s most-watched content. Niko Partners China Games & Livestreaming Tracker reveals that RPG remained one of the most-watched genres in China’s livestreaming market in August 2026. In general, major updates and preview broadcasts supported audience interest. Meanwhile, new August entrants included Lord of Mysteries, which debuted at #16, and Mistfall Hunter, which debuted at #24.
Kuaishou’s Lord of Mysteries ranked as the #44 most-viewed game on our Niko Index chart, and at #16 when isolating the RPG genre, amassing a total of 5.6 million viewers across Huya, Douyu and Bilibili in August. The F2P RPG cross-platform mobile/PC game launched across key platforms like iOS, Android, HarmonyOS, alongside a PC version distributed via its official website on August 21.
The open-world MMORPG, adapted from the popular Chinese web novel of the same name, reportedly had a total development and marketing investment of RMB 1.2 billion ($179 million), making it one of China’s highest profiles MMO launches this year.
Player acquisition was strong, with 1 million registrations added within one hour and more than 5 million within 24 hours of launch.
The title continued to perform well, entering its second week having grossed more than $20 million across all platforms in its first. But it’s still too early to deem the game a success.
The title holds a 7.2 rating on TapTap. Players praise the atmospheric visuals, music, voice acting and recreation of the original novel, but criticize repetitive MMO systems, and progression heavily influenced by P2W mechanics.
Developed by Bellring Games, a subsidiary of Bytedance (TikTok), Mistfall Hunter ranked as the #87 most-viewed game on our Niko Index chart, and at #24 when isolating the RPG genre, amassing a total of 2.0 million viewers across Huya, Douyu and Bilibili in August. The premium RPG cross-platform PC/console game launched across key platforms like Steam International, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5 on July 30. Notably, the title sold 1 million units in its first week.
In China, the standard edition was priced at RMB 88 ($13.10) and the deluxe edition at RMB 138 ($20.53), with a 14-day launch discount and the lowest available price offered through the official website.
The game first started gaining popularity as a result of the Steam Next Fest Demo where it attracted 430,000 participants.
Simplified Chinese accounts for approximately 14.70% of the reviews, only half of which are positive. While players praised its dark-fantasy atmosphere, engaging Soulslike combat and extraction concept, the game was heavily criticized for server lag, regional restrictions, class imbalance, limited solo progression, and aggressive monetization.
The above is an extract from our China Games & Livestreaming Tracker August 2026 summary. See the free sample here.
Niko Partners’ China Games & Livestreaming Tracker views all current and historical data in our dashboard, updated every 24 hours. Niko’s Analysts write and post monthly analysis of key trends and data observed in the Tracker to help our clients with important insights. Learn more about the platform here. Book your free demo!