Nexon’s ARC Raiders reaches 12.4 million global sales within two months of launch
Nexon stated its new PvPvE extraction adventure game ARC Raiders surpassed cumulative global sales of 12.4 million, about two months after its official launch in October 2025. The title was developed by Embark Studios, Nexon’s subsidiary, available on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. Nexon reported that the game recorded a peak concurrent user of 960,000 and has remained in Steam’s global top-selling charts for 10 weeks. Nexon attributed the performance to long-term collaboration with Embark Studios since its acquisition.
Why this matters: ARC Raiders is among the few new IP that are able to gain prominence in Korea amidst the domination of evergreen and franchise titles. The game has also received industry recognition, winning Best Multiplayer Game at The Game Awards and Most Innovative Gameplay at the 2025 Steam Awards. This shows that fresh game titles can still find success if executed properly.
Link to original article (Korean) →
10 Major Trends to Watch in Asia & MENA in 2026 – Niko Partners Predictions
For more than 20 years, Niko Partners has delivered high-integrity data, insights, and analysis as local experts with a global perspective. In 2026, we continue our video game market coverage across five key regions in Asia and MENA. To start the year, we’re sharing our 2026 predictions—along with a look back at how our 2025 forecasts performed and how accurately our models have tracked the market over time.
South Korea to request additional game license approvals from Chinese regulator
The South Korean government has confirmed it will formally request that Chinese authorities expand the issuance of game licenses (ISBNs) for Korean-developed titles in 2026, positioning games as a central pillar of its broader cultural and economic growth agenda. The plan was outlined in the country’s newly released 2026 Economic Growth Strategy, jointly announced by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and other relevant ministries.
Why this matters: Niko Partners research shows that South Korea emerged as the #1 country for import game approvals this year, with around 20% all titles developed or licensed by South Korean studios. This is in contrast to prior years where Japan was the #1 country, and even more so compared to 2017-2021 when China stopped issuing licenses to South Korean games due to tensions over the US involvement in Korea for its THAAD missile system deployment. Korea is looking to make its #1 spot permanent.
Hangzhou introduces new policy to accelerate overseas expansion of games
Hangzhou has released a new policy framework aimed at accelerating the international expansion of its “new cultural trio” online literature, online drama, and online games. The measures, published via the Hangzhou Yuhang District Cultural and Creative Industry Association, are positioned as part of a broader effort to strengthen high-quality cultural exports and reinforce Hangzhou’s ambition to become a world-class historical and cultural city with globally competitive digital content industries.
Why this matters: This policy provides support for original premium content creation, assistance for overseas publishing and distribution, cultural trade support mechanisms, incentives for technology innovation and R&D, and comprehensive talent attraction, development, and retention policies. Collectively, these measures are designed to reduce friction for companies expanding abroad, while encouraging higher production values and more internationally competitive IP.
Link to original article (Chinese) →
New game studio, Halal Games, launches in Egypt
A brand new game studio has been launched in Egypt called Halal Games. In a statement, Halal Games CEO and founder Hassan Sherif said “I wanted to create experiences that respect values without sacrificing creativity or quality.” As such, the studio is focused on making games that align with Islamic values, so games that wouldn’t include any content or mechanics that could be considered blasphemous.
Why this matters: The establishment of the studio shows that while the games industry continues to grow in Egypt, the country and its developers value religious values highly. This also extends to players with gamers in Egypt being the most likely, across the MENA-3 region, to stop playing a game if it includes content that is considered haram or offends based on religion.
Goose Goose Duck surpasses 10 million users in six days after China launch
Goose Goose Duck, the social deduction game originally released for PC in 2021, has now surpassed 10 million users in mainland China within six days of its official mobile release on January 7, 2026. According to the publisher, the game has already surpassed the previous peak concurrent user figure set in 2023, which was around 700,000. The title debuted at #22 on our China Games & Livestreaming Tracker, with 630,000 viewers on its first day.
Why this matters: The F2P title first went viral in 2023 thanks to Steam international, with Chinese streamers picking up the game, but hype quickly died down the following year. In 2025, Chinese publisher Kingsoft and live streaming platform Huya announced they had obtained the rights from Canadian developer Gaggle Studio to release an official version of the game for PC and mobile in China, with the title obtaining a license in June 2025.
Link to original article (Korean) →
China’s LPL now has 7 sponsors down from 15 at its peak
Chinese League of Legends esports operator TJ Sports has announced the sponsor lineup for the 2026 first season of the League of Legends Pro League, confirming seven partners: JD.com (Jing Dong), Li-Ning, Durex, Skymotor, TCL, Warhorse, and AutoFull. Notably absent are long time partners Mercedes-Benz, OPPO, and Intel. It’s unclear if more sponsors will be announced at a later date. The 2026 League of Legends Pro League is the thirteenth year of China’s professional League of Legends league, kicking off this month.
Why this matters: The reduced roster underscores a sharp contraction from the LPL’s commercial peak in 2021, when the league counted 15 partners across automotive, apparel, F&B, tech, and telecom categories. The current count of seven sponsors coincides with structural downsizing across the league. The LPL will operate with 14 teams in 2026, down from 16, following the exits of FPX and RNG. The LPL remains the world’s largest LoL league by audience, but sponsor attrition and team exits signal a recalibration of esports ROI in China.
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Chongqing to open southwest China’s largest esports venue in 2026
Chongqing is currently in the final stages of building the largest purpose-built esports venue in southwest China, a project that began in December 2023 in Bishan District. The arena is being developed specifically as the home venue for the Chongqing Wolves, one of China’s leading professional esports organizations, and is scheduled to open in later this year. With seating for more than 2,000 spectators, the facility will rank among the largest and most advanced esports venues nationwide, marking a major step forward for the city’s cultural and digital entertainment infrastructure.
Why this matters: Throughout 2025, the Wolves delivered strong performances across multiple esports titles, securing championship victories, podium finishes, and record-setting results in both Chinese and international competitions. By the end of 2025, the Wolves’ global fan base had approached 27 million, with cumulative exposure across social media platforms exceeding 2 billion views. Chongqing’s investment signals growing confidence among local governments in esports as a driver of economic growth.
South Korean developer Shift Up sees generative AI as a way to compete with China and US
During a national briefing on South Korea’s 2026 Economic Growth Strategy on January 9, Shift Up CEO and Stellar Blade director Hyung-tae Kim framed artificial intelligence as tool to help South Korean game studios facing structural disadvantages against larger rivals in China and the US. Kim noted that a typical Shift Up project allocates around 150 developers per game, compared with 1,000-2,000 staff commonly deployed by major Chinese studios, creating unavoidable gaps in content volume and production. Kim argued that AI adoption is not about workforce reduction but productivity amplification.
Why this matters: These comments come amid an ongoing global debate around generative AI in game development. In Western markets, developer and player backlash around ethics, labor impact, and creative integrity has led some studios to slow or reverse AI initiatives. By contrast, Asian developers have largely continued to advance AI strategies with less public resistance, with many studios openly integrating AI into production, live operations, and content creation workflows.
Esports competition to be held by Indonesia’s Ministry of Villages and Development of Disadvantaged Regions
Indonesia’s Minister of Villages and Development of Disadvantaged Regions Yandri Susanto stated that esports can be considered as a way to optimize Indonesian villages’ potential and encourage youth participation in productive economic activities. Therefore, the ministry will celebrate the National Village Day 2026 with a tournament, Mendes PDT Esports Cup, with the tournament expected to be held annually. For the 2026 edition, only one game, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, is included in the tournament, with a total prize pool of IDR 50 million ($3,000) and additional rewards including smartphones, electric motorcycles, 5 tonnes of fertilizer, and 372,500 in-game diamonds.
Why this matters: Governments across Asia continue to see esports in a positive tone compared to other regions, with policies enacted across the region to support local esports ecosystem and government bodies also regularly host esports tournaments. Esports is also seen as a source of national pride, being a medal sport in events such as SEA Games and Asian Games. Niko consistently tracks the popularity of esports in Asia in our research.
Link to original article (Indonesian) →
Events
MLBB M7 Grand Finals
January 25, 2026
Jakarta, Indonesia
Attendee: Darang Candra, Edward Tien, Jaq Lukman
WN Abu Dhabi
February 11-12, 2026
Abu Dhabi, UAE
Speaker: Bahaa Hamza
The Goose Goose Duck comeback in China is really intresting given how many social deduction games fizzled after Among Us peaked. That pattern of virality dying then resurging years later with proper localization feels like something more devs should study, tho I dunno if its replicable. I remeber when a friend's studio tried chasing that Among Us moment and totally missed - timing plus cultural fit seems way more critical than just copying mechanics.