We have known it for a few years, China is a very focused market on video games, mainly MMO and mobile games at first, but habits are clearly changing. The success of Black Myth Wukong (20 million copies sold in 15 days, 25 million sales to date) and the arrival of many very solo narrative AAA proves that Chinese players have a real appetite for genres of play that was thought to be reserved for the West. This is no longer true and it is enough to take a look at the figures communicated by Valve on its Steam platform to note a major change. In February 2025, according to Valve, the number of Chinese users increased by 20.88%, largely exceeding English -speaking users, which means that the total ratio of Chinese users today reaches 50.06%, compared to 23.79%for English -speaking players.
For Valve, this increase in the number of Chinese users in February was expected because it corresponds to the Lunar New Year Holiday period. For comparison, the Christmas period in December 2024 brought the monthly English -speaking user ratio to 42.14%. It remains lower than Chinese figures, but we see that during leave, the number of users increases significantly. If Black Myth Wukong is truly the engine of this advance, or at least its entry point, another game too Chinese has come confirmed that Steam is now a platform that interests Chinese players.
A few days ago, for example, in full promotion of his split fiction, Josef Farès admitted that of the 23 million copies sold for his It Takes Two, more than half of the sales were made in China. Similarly, according to some analysts, the stratospheric launch of Monser Hunter Wilds (8 million copies sold in 3 days) is also due to the presence of the Chinese market, which would have played an important role in this explosion on Steam, with the 1.3 million players connected simultaneously a few hours after its release.
Indeed, February was also the month of exit from Mecha Break, developed by Amazing Seasun Games, which released its playable demo as part of the Steam Next Fest. A demo that attracted a lot of players, mainly Chinese, with a peak in 317,522 players connected simultaneously. A figure that some Western AAAs do not even manage to reach despite the big marketing campaigns deployed.
Anyway, Steam notes a real flight from its users from China, with a number that continues to grow and that will continue to grow in the number of titles from Chinos studios that arrive this year and in 2026. A trend that will therefore continue and perhaps even hold on time. The Chinese video game market has developed from year to year, and in recent years, the PC and consoles market has experienced particularly remarkable growth. According to the 2024 report on the Gaming Industry in Chinathe Chinese console game market increased by 55.13% in 2024 compared to the previous year, and this dynamic should continue.
