Tencent, Century Games, & Microfun top China mobile game publishers in November 2025
New Sensor Tower data shows that Tencent, DianDian Interactive (Century Games), Microfun, and NetEase were the top 4 Chinese mobile game publishers by global revenue, across the App Store and Google Play, in November 2025. Microfun continued to post stable revenue growth, rising to #3 among publishers and reinforcing its dominance in the merge-game category. Tencent continued its dominance as Honor of Kings and Delta Force: Hawk Ops secured the #1 and #2 positions in China for the month.
Why this matters: Tencent and NetEase continue to face strong competition overseas, including from domestic game publishers as well. Kingshot and Whiteout Survival have propelled Century Games to the top of the chart this year, while Gossip Harbor saw its revenue increase 211% YoY, positioning Microfun as a key Chinese developer. As always, we note that Sensor Tower does not track revenue from third-party Android stores and out-of-app monetization, which skews the figures somewhat.
Link to original article (Chinese) →
Niko Partners on CGTN Europe interview: The Game Awards 2025 and how Chinese games go global
Clair Obscur – Expedition 33 swept The Game Awards, winning Game Of The Year. The game also smashed the record for the most wins in a single year at the award.The event also saw the latest trailer and release date for Chinese game Phantom Blade Zero. Due in September 2026, the game boasts similar Wuxia theme like Black Myth:Wukong and Where Winds Meet. Niko’s Director for Southeast Asia and East Asia Research Darang Candra shared our take about this phenomenal game and how Chinese games rank globally with CGTN.
Thai Arena of Valor athlete Tokyogurl disqualified from SEA Games following a cheating scandal
The Thai Esports Association (TESF) issued a statement penalizing Ms. Naphat Warasin “Tokyogurl”, a Thai Arena of Valor athlete who was caught using a cheating software at the esports match for the 33rd SEA Games held in Bangkok, Thailand. An investigation into an incident that occurred on December 15, 2025, revealed that the athlete in question clearly violated section 9.4.3 of the Esports Technical Manual, specifically by using unauthorized third-party software. Niko’s Thai analyst Nina Kitkrua attended the esports matches at SEA Games in Bangkok and saw the disqualification firsthand.
Why this matters: Cheating scandals are a sensitive topic in esports tournaments, particularly in multinational tournaments such as the SEA Games. Southeast Asian tournaments saw several major cheating scandals, including bug abuse at SEA Games 2023’s VALORANT match and match-fixing by esports team Twisted Minds at Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Developmental League (MDL) Philippines.
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Saudi Arabia to debut Kingdom of Gaming event
Saudi Arabia has announced the launch of a new global video game conference, Kingdom of Gaming, scheduled to take place in Riyadh from December 1–3, 2026. The event is positioned as a major international platform aimed at connecting developers, studios, and investors, with a stated goal of accelerating the growth of a world-class game creation ecosystem in Saudi Arabia. The event will be co-located with Black Hat MEA 2026, a major cybersecurity conference, and is expected to attract more than 20,000 attendees, alongside 300 exhibitors and sponsors and participation from over 500 studios and developers.
Why this matters: A new joint venture between Informa, the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones, and the Events Investment Fund (EIF) has been set up to run the event. Sela, the event production company owned by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign Public Investment Fund (PIF), is also set to join the venture. Kingdom of Gaming reinforces Saudi Arabia’s intent to build a comprehensive gaming ecosystem that spans development, publishing, esports, infrastructure, and investment. It also reflects the Kingdom’s strategy of using large-scale international events to attract foreign studios, talent, and capital.
Niko’s China Games & Livestreaming Tracker November 2025 Highlights: Anime-Style RPGs Power November Viewership
RPG is the most watched genre in November 2025, according to Niko’s China Games & Livestreaming Tracker. Our Tracker reveals that the genre continues to command strong interest among viewers, driven heavily by major version updates and anniversary events. We break down the performance of three most standout RPG titles: Wuthering Waves, Zenless Zone Zero, Stella Sora on our latest blog post.
Tencent drops its bid for Paramount’s Warner Bros unit amid U.S. regulatory concerns
Tencent has withdrawn from US media group Paramount Skydance Corp’s takeover bid for Warner Bros Discovery. The action taken by Tencent is to avoid heightened scrutiny of foreign investment in the United States, according to a filing on the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s website. Tencent had initially pledged $1 billion toward Paramount’s December 1 acquisition proposal but was later removed as a financing partner in Paramount’s latest all-cash offer of $30 per share, as announced on December 8.
Why this matters: The change followed concerns from Warner Bros that Tencent’s involvement as a non-U.S. equity financier investor could trigger a Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) review. Even with Tencent’s $700 billion market cap and over $20 billion in cash, the company’s activities in the US have drawn greater scrutiny over the past few years amid tensions between the US and China. Most recently, the US Department of Defense designated Tencent as a “Chinese military company,” a label the firm has strongly denied.
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Valorant Mobile won App Store Game of the Year in mainland China
Riot and Tencent’s Valorant Mobile won the Apple App Store Game of the Year in mainland China, having released this Summer. Meanwhile, Pokémon TCG Pocket, published by The Pokémon Company, was selected as the iPhone Game of the Year in most global markets. Notably, Tencent stated that Valorant Mobile has become the largest mobile game launch of the year in China less than four months after release, establishing itself as one of the company’s flagship titles for 2025.
Why this matters: Co-developed by Riot Games and Tencent’s Lightspeed Studios, Valorant Mobile is a mobile-only FPS hero-shooter adapted from Valorant PC IP. In early November, the official Valorant team announced that combined PC + mobile MAUs had surpassed 50 million. After the games success in China, Riot Games is now turning its attention to a global roll out, hoping to replicate its success overseas as well.
Link to original article (Chinese) →
Tencent is being more hands on when it comes to acquired studios
Tencent has confirmed it is exerting greater strategic influence over studios it owns, including Techland, Funcom, and Sumo Group, signaling a shift from its historically hands-off investment approach. Speaking to Bloomberg, Tencent Games CEO Michelle Liu outlined how the company is increasingly embedding operational, production, and commercial expertise into its subsidiaries to improve execution and commercial outcomes, while avoiding direct creative intervention.
Why this matters: Niko Partners has always talked about Tencent’s silent global expansion, which has involved it buying up or investing in more than 200 studios over the past decade without much fanfare. Now, the company is taking a more strategic approach which has included divesting from unprofitable studios, consolidating other studios, and building a publishing label (Level Infinite) that can provide resources and strategic influence over its acquired and partner studios. This reflects Tencent’s evolution into a more active strategic partner, particularly as development costs rise and market conditions tighten.
Official 2025 China Esports Industry Report released
On December 4, Tang Jiajun, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association, Secretary-General of the Game Working Committee, and Director of the Esports Working Committee, officially released the 2025 China Esports Industry Report at the annual conference. In 2025, the revenue of China’s esports industry reached RMB 29.331 billion ($4.15 billion), representing a YoY growth of 6.40%. The size of China’s esports user base exceeded 495 million in 2025, a YoY growth rate of 1.06%.
Why this matters: Live streaming revenue remained the largest revenue segment this year, accounting for 80.81% of the total, followed by event revenue and club revenue. It’s worth noting that most comparative figures for other countries often exclude livestreaming revenue, as this can inflate the true value of the esports industry. China hosted 142 non-exhibition esports events at the provincial level or above in 2025, an increase of 18 compared to the previous year.
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Moore Threads jumps more than five times in value as it begins trading in Shanghai
Shares of Moore Threads Technology, often dubbed “China’s Nvidia”, soared over fivefold on their Shanghai debut after a RMB 8 billion ($1.1 billion) initial public offering (IPO). Moore Threads [SHA: 688795] popped 469% to RMB 650 ($91.94) per share at the open on the Nasdaq-style Star Market, versus an offering price of RMB 114.28 ($16.16). The stock closed at RMB 600.50 ($84.88), a 425% gain, giving the firm a market capitalization of about RMB 282 billion ($39.9 billion).
Why this matters: The blockbuster listing, fueled by China’s AI boom and national push for semiconductor self-sufficiency, sets the stage for other domestic GPU firms such as Biren and Enflame to go public under recent fast-track regulatory reforms. While Nvidia and AMD still have the lead when it comes to consumer GPU market share, Chinese competitors are starting to ramp up the pressure with their own mid to high end GPU releases. Notably, Moore Threads’ IPO, oversubscribed 4,000 times, issued 70 million shares. The proceeds are allocated for chip development and to supplement working capital.
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Solid breakdown of the publisher rankings. Microfun's climb to #3 is intresting - that 211% YoY jump for Gossip Harbor shows how effective a well-tuned merge game can be in capturing casual spending. The caveat about Sensor Tower not tracking third-party Android is critical, especially for Tencent whose domestic revenue is probabaly much larger than these figs suggest. I've seen similar blind spots in market reports where the official store data only tells half the story, especially in regions with heavy sideloading. Would be curious how much the rankings shift once you factor in those alternative channels.