Revenue from Chinese mini-games has grown twentyfold over four years — analysis

The companies Meridian Play and Jinke have analyzed the mini-game market situation in China. They gathered data on the revenue and audience of such projects and identified the main hits.

Bangbang Survivor

Key Findings

• Chinese mini-games are experiencing a rapid growth. As per estimates, their revenue in 2021 was "only" 2.65 billion yuan ($393 million), while by 2025, the amount had reached 53.5 billion yuan ($7.65 billion).
• It is forecasted that by the end of 2026, mini-games will earn over 70 billion yuan ($9.72 billion) in China.
• In 2025, the lion's share of mini-game revenue came from in-game purchases—36.4 billion yuan ($5.06 billion) or 68.11%. The rest of the revenue was attributed to advertising.
• At the end of last year, there were more than 51,000 mini-games in China whose creators paid for advertising on various platforms to attract users. This is 54% more than at the end of 2024.
• WeChat and Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok) are the main platforms for mini-games in China. As of August 2025, the monthly active user (MAU) base for mini-games on WeChat was 571 million people, with a penetration rate of 51.5%. Douyin's numbers were more modest but still significant—171 million people and 18.4%, respectively.
• In May 2026, half of the mini-game users on WeChat consisted of gamers aged 24-40 years.
• The engagement level among mini-game users on WeChat is quite high—on average, they play for more than an hour a day. The average number of sessions per gamer is 5.1 per day.
• The most common genres of mini-games with paid traffic in China are MMORPG (41%), idle games (18.4%), and card games (11.2%).
• The top 3 mini-games in China by MAU as of August 2025 were Whiteout Survival (50.73 million people), Bangbang Survivor (40.41 million people), and Snake Off (36.61 million people).