Chinese Studios Took Home Two Gamescom Awards, and NetEase Posted RMB 50.7B in Half-Year Game Revenue: This Wave of Going Overseas Is Landing at Rivals' Doorsteps
Gamescom has barely wrapped, the trophies aren't even warm yet, and Germany's president came out to lend star power. Frank-Walter Steinmeier attended Gamescom for the first time, giving the show full-face treatment — and under the spotlight, the most conspicuous group was the Chinese companies. Let's read the results first. In the 2026 Gamescom awards list, Tencent-invested Chengdu-based Eclipse Edge Studio won "Most Epic" for Tides of Annihilation; NetEase's Where Winds Meet took "Best Mobile Game." The nomination list is more startling: in "Best Mobile Game," HoYoverse's Genshin Impact and Zenless Zone Zero, plus Hypergryph's Arknights: Endfield, occupy an entire row — the Chinese studios didn't show up to fill seats; they came to run the table. The German president on-site, Chinese studios accepting awards — nobody would have dared write that scene into the script five years ago. What is Cologne? The home turf of Europe's game industry. Winning awards there is like grabbing the microphone in the opponent's house. Beyond trophies, earnings reports are underwriting the story. NetEase's 2026 interim results show first-half total revenue of RMB 60.7 billion, of which games and related value-added services contributed RMB 50.7 billion, up 8.3% year over year. Five flagship titles were named: Fantasy Westward Journey, Identity V, Eggy Party, Justice Online, and Where Winds Meet. Overseas, Marvel Rivals and Where Winds Meet are in intensive testing across North America and Europe, with community heat climbing; pipeline titles Ananta and Gui Tang are queued up for launch. Don't think it's only NetEase making money. Sensor Tower data shows that in May this year, 38 Chinese publishers made the global Top 100 mobile publisher revenue chart, collectively earning US$2.29 billion — that's the base. Head-tier anime-style games are even more ferocious: when Genshin Impact version 6.6 launched on May 20, it hit No. 2 on the global mobile game revenue chart that day, second only to Honor of Kings. After Zenless Zone Zero version 2.8, Japan iOS single-day revenue spiked 514%, driving global monthly revenue up 27%. Public information on HoYoverse shows RMB 15 billion in cumulative tax contribution over five years — in a year when the anime-game market is cooling, the top player still absorbs the money. More worth pondering is the category upgrade behind this outbound wave. In the past, Chinese games went overseas on mobile user-acquisition spend, with Southeast Asia as the main battlefield. Now it's different — Tides of Annihilation won "Most Epic" on console/PC turf, meaning some are squeezing into the 3A card game. The anime-game script is being rewritten too: Hypergryph's Arknights: Endfield passed RMB 1.2 billion in global all-platform revenue within two weeks of launch, and PC plus PS revenue exceeded mobile — domestic anime games have finally torn off the "mobile dependence" label and dared to talk to global players in the living room. The heavyweight bout is still ahead: on September 17, Tokyo Game Show 2026 opens — its 30th edition, expanded for the first time to five days, with 300,000 visitors expected. Cologne has just ended, TGS is next, and Chinese studios' booths may be crushed this year. But let me say something deflating: winning awards and making money are not the same thing. Jiemian News asked a good question in its half-year review — "After the blockbuster, who takes over?" Nearly 70% of 24 listed game companies are profitable; good-looking. But the stronger the leaders get, the more anxious the mid-tier becomes. Tencent exited its stake in Guangzhou Mingzhou Technology; Shanghai Yuelongyin was reported to owe staff wages — in anime games' winter, small and mid teams are still carrying the load; rumors of NetEase internal org adjustments haven't stopped either. Awards are tickets, not finish lines; going overseas is a long run, not a check-in. My take: praise where praise is due, but don't float. Chinese games don't lack hits; what they lack is an industrial system that can produce hits reliably. RMB 50.7 billion is past tense. Where the next Tides of Annihilation, the next "Endfield" comes from — that decides who calls the shots for the next five years. Interactive time: so far this year, which Chinese studio's performance has impressed you most? Name names in the comments; argue if you disagree.