While the Western gaming calendar winds down after summer showcases, one of the largest events in the industry is only getting started. ChinaJoy 2026 runs July 31 to August 3 at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre in Pudong, and it remains the single biggest window into the world’s largest gaming market.
Now in its 23rd year, ChinaJoy is officially the China Digital Interactive Entertainment Expo and Conference. It is co-hosted by the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association and reflects the priorities of a market that generates more revenue than any other on the planet. If you follow gaming mostly through E3-era Western showcases, this is the event that shows what the rest of the industry is doing.
How big is it
Very. The 2025 edition drew more than 410,000 attendees across four days, a record for the show. Organizers say the 2026 floor will be its largest yet, with roughly 900 companies from 39 countries confirmed and an exhibition area past 140,000 square meters.
For scale, that is several times the footprint of most Western consumer gaming events. ChinaJoy is closer in spirit to Gamescom in Cologne than to any single publisher showcase, combining a public-facing consumer floor with a serious business and dealmaking track.
What is on the floor
The consumer halls are the draw for most visitors. Expect more than 1,000 playable game demos from over 500 companies, including Tencent, NetEase, Blizzard, and PlayStation. A dedicated Indie Game Demo Zone gives smaller studios space alongside the giants, and a concurrent Steam Online Festival ties the physical show to digital storefronts.
ChinaJoy has never been only about games. The floor also carries anime, esports tournaments, cosplay, online literature, camera and imaging pavilions, and increasingly, robotics and AI hardware. This year’s programming leans hard into AI, which threads through the show’s official theme and much of the business track.
The separate business halls host the deal side: publishers, investors, and service providers meeting away from the crowds. For anyone tracking where mobile and cross-border gaming money is moving, that half of the show often matters more than the demos.
Can you attend
Yes, though it takes planning. International visitors can buy consumer tickets through the MaiSeat platform, while business and conference passes route through Chinese platforms including a dedicated WeChat mini-program. Overseas attendees should sort travel documents and payment methods well ahead, since the process is less streamlined than for Western shows.
If you cannot make it to Shanghai, coverage will still be worth watching. ChinaJoy reliably surfaces announcements, mobile titles, and market signals that Western outlets underreport, and it sets the tone for the second half of the gaming year across Asia.
Figures are current as of July 2026 and organizers sometimes revise attendance and exhibitor counts closer to the event.