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China surpasses the U.S. in iOS game revenue for the first time

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 1 min

In the second quarter, China hit a new milestone as it surpassed the U.S. to become the No. 1 country for iOS game revenue, according to market researcher App Annie.

The change was inevitable, and it shows the shifting tides of the $36 billion mobile game industry. App Annie said that revenue for homegrown Chinese mobile games such as Fantasy Westward Journey, Westward Journey Online, and Hero Moba fueled the growth. Meanwhile, foreign titles, such as Clash Royale (ranked at No. 10 in China), played a lesser role.

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.