Code from home: Russia will bring a record number of video games to China

In early August, Shanghai will host Asia's largest gaming exhibition, ChinaJoy 2026, at which Russia will present 12 gaming companies at once for the first time, Izvestia learned. The results of the project selection competition will be officially announced on July 2. The participants expect to find publishers, investors and strategic partners in China to enter one of the world's largest gaming markets, which is simultaneously considered one of the most promising and most difficult for foreign developers. How domestic studios plan to gain a foothold in China and why the Moscow authorities rely on the export of video games — in the Izvestia article.

Which Russian games will be presented at ChinaJoy 2026

This year, the Moscow Creative Industries Agency will send a record 12 companies to ChinaJoy, which will present more than 20 games. Among the participants are 1C Game Studios, HeroCraft, Deep Corp, Fogame and others.

For the first time, the Moscow studio Deep Corp. will travel to the largest Asian exhibition. The company will present the psychological horror Deda, dedicated to survival in a provincial house with a dangerous monster in the form of a grandfather, and may also show another project that is currently being prepared for publication.

— China is a large and dynamic market with high competition. Being able to access it is an achievement in itself. If the local audience likes the product, it will be a serious promotion of the project both from the point of view of recognition and from the point of view of finances," said studio director Mikhail Kovalenko.

He added that participation in the Moscow Game Export program greatly simplifies access to international exhibitions, since small teams do not have to independently organize trips and paperwork.

HeroCraft intends to bring six projects to Shanghai at once. Among them are the Banner of Victory strategy, dedicated to the contribution of the USSR to the victory over Nazism, and the multiplayer role—playing game Animal Hero with intelligent animals that form groups and fight among themselves in "animal wars".

— ChinaJoy is huge in scale. If we make an understandable comparison, it's like increasing our "Gaming World" four times. We expect to meet with Chinese partners, find new projects for the publishing house and better understand how the local market is developing today," Daniil Kolesnikov, head of business development at HeroCraft, told Izvestia.

This will be the second trip to China for 1C Game Studios. Last year, the studio presented the projects "Immortal. Tales of Old Russia", a series of flight simulators "IL-2" and an online shooter "Caliber". Izvestia reported on these games in a special article dedicated to Victory Day.

— ChinaJoy is the most important event in Asia for the digital entertainment industry. This opens up direct access to one of the largest markets in the world for Russian companies," Anatoly Subbotin, Marketing Director at 1C Game Studios, told Izvestia.

According to him, last year the company held dozens of negotiations, which resulted in deals on the distribution of game keys, as well as a contract with a Chinese publisher for the joint operation of Kalibr.

Exporting instead of the domestic market

According to Gulnara Agamova, head of the Moscow Agency for Creative Industries (AKI), export is becoming the main direction of development of the Russian "gamedev", that is, the gaming industry.

— The Moscow Video Game Export program, operating within the ecosystem of the Video Game and Animation Cluster, helps studios enter new markets, participate in exhibitions and negotiations with publishers. ChinaJoy in Shanghai is launching Moscow's grand tour of video game exhibitions in the Asia-Pacific region in 2026, with participation in the Tokyo Game Show and G-Star ahead. In Asia, projects from Russia have a strong competitive advantage — original mechanics and games based on Russian culture, history and mythology, which are of great interest to local publishers and gamers," she stressed.

According to AKI, Moscow remains the center of the Russian gaming industry today: almost every second company in the country operates in the capital, and Moscow studios account for 58% of the industry's total revenue. In 2025, as part of the Moscow Game Export program, developers participated in eight foreign events and signed 36 export contracts worth over 1 billion rubles.

However, entering the Chinese market remains a difficult task, said Vasily Ovchinnikov, General Director of the Video Game Industry Development Organization.

— China remains an extremely attractive destination for developers, but at the same time one of the most closed markets. To successfully get on it, it is not enough just to release a high-quality game. We need local partners, licenses, an understanding of market specifics, work with publishers, and long—term relationship building," he told Izvestia.

According to the expert, participation in ChinaJoy is important primarily not from the point of view of quick earnings, but as an opportunity to build the reputation of Russian studios and establish long-term business ties.

— For many small teams, the Moscow government's programs are the first step towards an international market. They allow you to gain experience that is extremely difficult to acquire on your own," concluded the head of the RVR.

According to Ivan Solovyov, Buka's director of business Development, the upcoming ChinaJoy will not only be a large-scale platform for interacting with players, but also an opportunity for the studio to strengthen relationships with local partners and developers.

— China has 683 million players and a record 3,507.89 billion yuan (~$49.8 billion) in revenue for 2025. The market grew by 7.68% and last year overtook the United States, becoming the largest in the world," explained Yulia Chernyshevskaya, Deputy Director of Marketing at Hobby World publishing Holding.

According to her, the exhibition also provides a chance to establish contacts with the owners of local platforms such as Tencent MyApp, Xiaomi, Qihoo 360 and others, WeChat integrators and payment systems, without which launching in China is impossible.