Chinese Publishers & Chinese Games on Live Streaming

Key insights

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Platform Reliance

Mobile-first titles heavily rely on TikTok Live for viewership.

Games like Call of Duty: Mobile and PUBG Mobile see up to 92% of their total hours watched on TikTok Live.

Growth Spikes

Viewership growth is driven by new game launches and major esports events.

The highest viewership in the last four years occurred in December 2024, with 196.1 million hours watched.

Like a concert tour, viewership peaks during major events rather than maintaining a steady hum.

Event-Driven Growth. New game launches and major esports events are the primary drivers of viewership spikes for Chinese-published games.

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Summary

Chinese-published games maintain a dominant presence in the global live-streaming landscape, though their performance varies significantly based on platform and genre. The analysis of the top 10 Chinese-published titles during the first half of 2026 reveals that mobile-first games, such as Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and PUBG Mobile, command massive viewership by leveraging TikTok Live as their primary engagement channel. Conversely, premium console and PC-adjacent titles like Genshin Impact exhibit a more diversified platform strategy, relying less on mobile-centric streaming services.

Data indicates a stark disparity in scale among the top titles, with Mobile Legends: Bang Bang leading the cohort with 628 million hours watched, significantly outperforming the bottom seven titles combined. Viewership patterns are heavily influenced by regional preferences; Southeast Asian audiences represent the largest support base for mobile-first titles on YouTube, while Twitch viewership for these games skews heavily toward English and Russian-speaking demographics. Furthermore, Kick has emerged as a notable platform for competitive shooter audiences, particularly within the Middle East and North Africa region.

The industry’s growth in live-streaming is largely driven by episodic spikes tied to new game launches and major esports events rather than consistent, organic month-to-month growth. For instance, the simultaneous launch of Marvel Rivals and Delta Force in December 2024 generated the highest viewership volume in the four-and-a-half-year period analyzed. Ultimately, the findings suggest that while Chinese publishers have successfully captured global audiences, long-term sustainability depends on balancing mobile-first regional strategies with broader platform diversification to mitigate reliance on any single streaming ecosystem.