THE number of China’s video game players has grown to a record of 668 million, a government-run game industry association said Thursday.

The number of gamers, which is accurate as of end-June, represents about half of the population.

Industry association CGIGC, which announced the data at an industry conference in Shanghai, also said sales revenue of the domestic gaming market reached 144.263 billion yuan (US$20.23 billion) for the first half of this year.

“Against the backdrop of a sluggish global gaming market, China’s gaming industry is gradually emerging from a trough and showing an upward trend,” Zhang Yijun, a director at the CGIGC, told the conference. “Facing the challenges of the second half of the year, we still need to boost industry confidence.”

China’s gamer population shrank for the first time last year amid a sweeping, months-long government action on the industry over gaming addiction concerns.

The move wiped out significant revenue and market value for many domestic gaming giants including Tencent Holdings and NetEase.

However, gaming revenue has yet to return to a pre-crackdown level. Sales revenue fell from 150.493 billion yuan in the first half of 2021 to 144.263 billion this first half.

Authorities stopped approving new games for nearly eight months between 2021 and 2022 as part of the action, but have since loosened regulations.

Regulators approved the latest batch of game licenses Wednesday, allowing 88 games to hit the market for the month of July.

(SD-Agencies)