Livestreaming Tracker January 2026 Highlights: Tencent’s New Nizhan: Future Breaks into January’s Top 10 Shooter Viewership Rankings
Shooter dominated China’s livestreaming landscape in January 2026. Read our writeup for three games that stood out: Nizhan: Future, Delta Force, Peacekeeper Elite
Shooter titles dominated China’s livestreaming landscape in January 2026, standing out as some of the month’s most-watched content. Niko Partners China Games & Livestreaming Tracker reveals that shooter games remained one of the most-watched genres in China’s livestreaming market in January 2026. Although Nizhan: Future is not a primary driver of the genre’s overall performance, its strong initial visibility underscores the impact of large pre-registration bases and Nizhan IP familiarity on first-month livestreaming traction. Read our quick take on the standout title from this month’s top 10 shooter games, based on the Niko Index, our proprietary metric for estimating total viewership across games, streamers, and categories.
A subsidiary of Tencent, TiMi J3 Studio’s Nizhan: Future ranked as the #30 most-viewed game on our Niko Index chart, and at #8 when isolating the shooter genre, amassing a total of 12.6 million viewers across Huya and Bilibili in January. The licensed F2P cross-platform PC/mobile game was launched on January 13 across App Store/Android, TapTap, and 4399 Game Box. Notably, Nizhan is a longstanding Tencent IP on PC. Meanwhile, the mobile title had already exceeded 20 million pre-registrations nationwide prior to its launch, and its popularity translated directly into a massive influx of traffic in its first month online.
The reviews have been generally neutral on TapTap, with a review score of 5.9/10. Many players criticized the game for being pay-to-win to make progress. A “nostalgia-driven cash grab” that exploits long-time fans of the Nizhan IP. Despite extensive playtime, they argue the game delivers shallow, repetitive PvE content, poorly balanced PvP (limited to mech combat), and outdated gameplay design philosophies.
Nizhan: Future continues Tencent’s trend of PC-to-mobile game adaptations, and Tencent now captures 5 of the top 10 shooters by viewers in China, with Delta Force leading the way. Notably, Tencent titles also dominate battle royale games, with Peacekeeper Elite being the top title here. Meanwhile, Nizhan: Future stands out in this crowded space with its longstanding IP and cross-platform adoption.
The above is an extract from our China Games & Livestreaming Tracker January 2026 summary. See a free summary 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!