ChinaJoy 2026, China's largest game exhibition, will be held at the Shanghai New International Expo Center from July 31st to August 3rd.

Now in its 23rd year, ChinaJoy 2026, as China’s representative game show, will be held this year with a total exhibition area of over 140,000 square meters, and about 900 companies have confirmed their participation so far.

Under the theme of 'Level Up with AI', it is being prepared as a large-scale exhibition covering games, AI technology, hardware, pop culture, and the digital consumer ecosystem. More than 500 game companies, including Tencent Games, NetEase Games, Blizzard Entertainment, and Century Huatong, will participate to showcase over 1,000 games. In particular, it is impressive that the 'ChinaJoy Express Demo Zone' has been set up separately where unique indie games can be met in one place.

ChinaJoy 2026

Unlike last year's event, where Pearl Abyss, which participated with 'Crimson Desert', and Nexon, which showcased 'The First Berserker: Khazan' through the Tencent booth, drew attention, participation from major domestic game companies decreased this year. It is interpreted that since it is not easy to obtain foreign game licenses, entry into China is difficult, and they are focusing on Gamescom and the Tokyo Game Show to target the Japanese and European markets, the importance of ChinaJoy has decreased.

Although the participation of major game companies has decreased, the challenges of indie game companies seeking to enter the Chinese market continue this year as well. Through the joint pavilion prepared by the Korea Creative Content Agency, ACT Games, Endev Games, Nanu Company, Nanali Studio, Averton, Underflow Studio, Hypersent, WayWay, Studio BBB, and Quesera Games will participate to meet local users.

In addition, Storytaco, which has been introducing consecutive new FMV games, will participate alongside 10 participating actors to meet local fans, and Nexus, which recently became a hot topic for acquiring ONE store, has decided to participate to introduce its blockchain platform.

At the Gyeonggi Content Agency, 10 companies recruited through the 2026 G-Connection Market linkage support will participate as a separate joint pavilion. Since the recruitment field was wide, most are content and character companies, but game companies Newcore Games and Team Tetrapod were included.

ChinaJoy 2025 Korea Joint Pavilion

Looking at the participating games, they consist of a very diverse range of genres, with some games already released globally and others preparing for release.

Storytaco, which announced its solo participation, plans to showcase the FMV genres 'But Are All the Boarders Beautiful? Season 2' and 'Summer Beauties: Heart Attack Warning!', which are showing fearsome growth recently in China.

Storytaco participating in ChinaJoy 2026 with the cast actors

Team Tetrapod, participating through the Gyeonggi Content Agency, is expected to showcase its recently released Stepets Retro: Psychic Detective Quest. This game is an adventure game featuring a deduction system that tracks clues to cases utilizing superpowers. Newcore Games, also participating in the Gyeonggi Content Agency booth, is expected to showcase its recently announced action roguelite game 'Seven Trials'.

Newcore Games preparing Seven Trials

ACT Games, participating in the Korea Creative Content Agency Joint Pavilion, will showcase 'Hello Kitty My Dream Store' utilizing the Sanrio Hello Kitty IP. This game is a mobile merge puzzle genre released last year, where you can meet famous Sanrio characters, receiving favorable reviews with a rating of 4.3 on the Google Play Store.

Hello Kitty My Dream Store

Endev Games showcases 'Fatal Claw', which was released as Steam Early Access through Com2uS Holdings. The game tells the story of exploring a mysterious underground world with 'Kisha', a mystical cat, and is characterized by well-reflecting the traits of the Metroidvania genre by combining side-scrolling action with growth elements.

Fatal Claw

Nanu Company will showcase 'Tower of Babel: Survivors of Chaos', prepared with the console market in mind. This game is a bullet hell (Vampire Survivors-like) genre, which recently ended Steam Early Access and transitioned to official service, drawing a lot of attention by exceeding 100,000 copies sold within a month of starting Early Access.

Tower of Babel: Survivors of Chaos

Nanali Studio will participate with its representative game, 'Forest Island'. This game is a healing game about growing an island with cute animal friends, introduced in 2021, and its game quality was recognized by winning the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Award in 2022 and being selected as a must-have indie game on the Korean Apple App Store in 2024.

Forest Island

Averton, drawing attention by developing 'Zeus: God of Pride' published by Com2uS, will participate in ChinaJoy with its separately prepared project 'Guns & Dragons'. This game is a cooperative roguelite FPS game set in a fantasy world with a touch of magic engineering. You can simultaneously enjoy fast-paced shooting action, a real-time changing weapon system, and the immersion of single-player gameplay alongside the fun of up to 3-player co-op play.

Guns & Dragons

Underflow Studio will showcase 'Fakebook', which drew attention as a deduction adventure game utilizing AI. In this game, players grow accounts to gather followers in an SNS world where about 2,000 virtual users exist, and experience the process of exposing the unfair death of their older sister. The core fun of this game lies in finding secrets hidden by family, friends, corporations, and idols in a world where numerous virtual users share their daily lives every day.

Fakebook

Hypersent, which is drawing attention after successfully launching the horror co-op game Backrooms Company, showcases its new game Backrooms Cleaners. This sequel expands the world of the previous work Backrooms Company and emphasizes combat, growth, and repetitive play. Thanks to the new gameplay emphasizing combat, growth, co-op play, and a roguelike repetitive structure in the Backrooms world, it is highly anticipated, gathering over 8,000 applicants within a week of opening playtest recruitment.

Backrooms Cleaners

WayWay Studio will showcase the roguelite action game 'Aksun'. This game is set in a dark fantasy world that reinterprets Korean shamanic beliefs and folklore, allowing for a different combat experience each time by combining more than 90 'ghostly items', and features weapons inspired by traditional defensive gear and a 'possession' system that temporarily borrows the power of gods.

Aksun

Studio BBB, in cooperation with the Japanese publisher Phoenixx, showcases MonoWave, a puzzle adventure game preparing for release. This game is characterized by solving various puzzles using an 'empathy system' that exchanges emotions through songs and four feelings: happiness, sadness, anger, and anxiety. Following winning the Grand Prize at the 2025 Gyeonggi Game Audition and winning the Taipei Game Show 2025 Indie Game Award, its award history is very spectacular, being nominated for the Creative Overkill category at the devcom Indie Awards and the Games for Impact category at the Gamescom Awards.

MonoWave

Quesera Games will showcase 'KALPA: Cosmic Symphony'. This is a keyboard-type rhythm game emphasizing story, which was first released on mobile and then on Steam last year. Thanks to its attractive story and original songs, it maintains very positive reviews on Steam and continues to receive favorable reviews with steady updates, such as showcasing its 4th DLC this time.

KALPA: Cosmic Symphony

According to last year's announcement by the Korea Creative Content Agency, a total of 9 small and medium game developers, including Takeone Company, Arumgames, Storytaco, Com2uS Rocat, Roomtom, Play Mephistowaltz, Team Tetrapod, ClanB, and BecauseOfUs, participated in the Korea Joint Pavilion, conducting more than 352 consultations. Interest is focused on which games will achieve their targeted results at ChinaJoy and return this year.

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