Hey all!
If you’ve been reviewing the video game industry’s trends over recent years, you will have seen the impressive pace with which players outside of China are engaging with Chinese games. From the highly popular otome game Love and Deepspace to Black Myth: Wukong; which became one of the largest Chinese AAA titles to break into the Western market, selling nearly 30 million copies; Chinese-developed games are forging a strong path into typically Western digital territories. This trend was further reflected in the recently released MMO Where Winds Meet, which generated substantial international interest at launch, reaching a peak of 250 thousand concurrent players.
大家好！
如果你关注过近年来电子游戏行业的趋势，就会发现海外玩家对中国游戏的触及程度之深令人瞩目。从广受欢迎的乙女游戏 《恋与深空》，再到打入西方市场的国产大型3A游戏之一，销量近3000万份的《黑神话：悟空》；国产游戏正在海外市场开辟一条强而有劲的道路。这一趋势在近期发布的MMO游戏《燕云十六声》中得到了进一步体现，该游戏在上线之初就引起了国际社会的广泛关注，巅峰时期同时在线玩家人数达 25 万。
Black Myth: Wukong proved Chinese stories can resonate with Western players
《黑神话：悟空》证明了中国故事能引起西方玩家的共鸣
In fact, of the ~$10bn growth in consumer spending in games seen in 2025, $2.1bn was collected by Chinese publishers with games published in the West (another $3.8bn was Chinese publishers with Chinese games).
The growing presence of Chinese-developed titles overseas reflects a shift in the global gaming landscape. Social media algorithms and gaming platforms such as Steam now play a major role in helping Western players discover Chinese games. As a result, it has now become easier than ever for Chinese studios and Western audiences to find each other, creating new opportunities for cross‑market reach.
In this article, we’ll explore some of the effective techniques to reach Western video game players which Acorn has utilised on behalf of our Chinese clients such as Tencent, miHoYo, NExT Studios and Paras Games.
事实上，在 2025 年游戏消费支出增长的约 100 亿美元中，有 21 亿美元来自于专注出海游戏的中国发行商（另有 38 亿美元来自专注于国产游戏海外发行的中国发行商）。
国产游戏在海外市场的日益活跃反映了全球游戏市场格局的转变。社交媒体算法和Steam等游戏平台在帮助西方玩家触及中国游戏方面发挥了重要作用。在今天，中国游戏工作室和西方玩家之间的联系比以往任何时候都更加便捷，从而为跨市场行业拓展创造了新的机遇。
在本文中，我们将探讨 Acorn 作为我们的中国客户（如腾讯、米哈游、NExT Studios 和 Paras Games）的代表，在海外游戏市场所采用的一些有效触及西方玩家群体的技巧。
“Of ~$10bn growth, $2.1bn was collected by Chinese publishers with games published in the West”
“在约100亿美元的增长中，有21亿美元来自于专注出海游戏的中国发行商。”
Genshin Impact and Its Global Breakthrough
For a long time, China’s gaming ecosystem felt closed off to the rest of the world. Even with industry giants like Tencent, miHoYo, and NetEase, many Chinese games still struggled to break into international markets, especially indie games. This separation was reinforced by China’s own online ecosystem, with platforms like XiaoHongShu, Weibo, and Bilibili shaping most of the country’s gaming (and online) discourses.
《原神》的全球化突破
长期以来，中国的游戏生态系统似乎与世界其他地区隔绝开来。即便有腾讯、米哈游和网易这样的行业巨头，许多中国游戏，尤其是独立游戏，仍然难以打入国际市场。这种隔阂又被中国自身的网络生态系统所强化，小红书、微博和哔哩哔哩等平台几乎主导了中国的游戏（以及互联网）讨论。
Chinese publishers claimed over half of the video game industry’s growth in 2025
中国发行商声称，到2025年，电子游戏行业一半以上的增长将来自中国。
In 2020, miHoYo captured a global audience with Genshin Impact, turning it into one of the first Chinese games to truly break through outside of China. By 2025, it had surpassed 300 million players globally, making it the earliest modern Chinese title to achieve massive success in the Western market, which in turn opened the gates to other Chinese-developed games.
Genshin Impact proved that a Chinese game could resonate with Western players just as strongly as it did at home. Despite having a different style from many Western games, it also benefited from creators who expanded its reach on many social media platforms. This visibility contributed to a global wave of discussion, analysis, and various community activities ranging from fan art to cosplay, which further strengthened the game’s international presence. This helped normalize the idea of high-quality Chinese-made games in Western gaming spaces, gradually reducing the ‘gap’ between both markets.
This leads to an important question: where should Chinese game studios focus their strategies in today’s global gaming market?
The Era of Content Creators
Based on the insights provided by Sprout Social, U.S. adults are spending more time on social platforms than ever. As of February 2026, people spent an average of 18 hours and 36 minutes per week on social media, with users hopping between nearly seven platforms every month. TikTok in particular leads in average daily usage, making it one of the top places where gaming content spreads and trends take shape. In the U.S. alone, TikTok has around136 million monthly active users, with Gen Z making up 59% of the user base.
2020年，米哈游凭借《原神》赢得了全球玩家的喜爱。 《原神》的成功使其成为首批真正走向海外的中国游戏之一。到2025年，它的全球玩家数量已经突破3亿，使其成为最早在西方市场取得巨大成功的现代中国游戏，同时也为其他国产游戏打开了全球化的大门。
《原神》证明，国产游戏也能像在中国本土一样，在西方玩家中引起强烈共鸣。即使它的风格与许多西方游戏截然不同，得益于开发者在众多社交媒体平台上的推广，《原神》收获了巨量来自西方玩家的好评。这种曝光度促成了全球范围内的讨论、分析以及从同人二创到cosplay等各种社区活动，进一步巩固了这款游戏的国际影响力。《原神》的成功从根源上让西方游戏界接受并认可了高质量国产游戏的概念，并逐步缩小两国市场之间的“信息差”。
这也引出了一个重要问题：在当今全球游戏市场中，中国游戏工作室应该将战略重点放在哪些方面？
内容创作者的时代
根据Sprout Social 提供的报告，美国成年人在社交平台上花费的时间比以往任何时候都多。截至 2026 年 2 月，人们平均每周在社交媒体上花费 18 小时 36 分钟，用户每月在近七个平台之间频繁切换。TikTok 的日均使用量尤其领先，使其成为游戏内容传播和潮流形成的主要平台之一。仅在美国，TikTok 的月活跃用户就达到了约 1.36 亿的惊人数量，其中 Z 世占据用户总数的 59%。
“U.S. adults spent an average of 18 hours and 36 minutes per week on social media”
“美国成年人平均每周在社交媒体上花费 18 小时 36 分钟”
This data becomes an excellent baseline for a modern game marketing strategy: if you want visibility, you need to focus concerted marketing strategy behind short-form content and reaching out to the right creators.
Right now, the industry is shifting from a journalist‑focused model to a creator‑focused one. Specialist gaming press produced 13% less articles in Q1 of 2025, over the same period the year before. Content creators have become the first touchpoint for players to discover new games. This creates an opportunity for studios or publishers alike to approach them – in their native language, building more momentum for your game. Once creators start doing their magic, larger press outlets follow that hype, leading to traditional media coverage as well.
We saw huge results by producing short form video for our client, Schrodinger’s Cat Burglar
我们为客户薛定谔的猫窃贼制作短视频，取得了巨大的成功。
This is where the algorithm god steps in. Since TikTok is region locked, your content will first be shown mainly to users in the same region as your account. But with consistent posting and strong engagement, the algorithm will slowly push your content into other regions as well. That’s how a game can begin in one market and eventually spill into international feeds.
Although Shorts and Reels aren’t necessarily known for having the same level of region lock as TikTok, they also tend to push your content to your local region at the beginning, largely as a result of timezones. This makes regular short‑form content creation important for helping your game’s algorithm gain global visibility. Of course, games press outreach remains useful as well, and Acorn’s network of over 2,500 contacts, including the usual favourites like IGN, PCGamer and Rock Paper Shotgun, can support that effort.
这时就轮到算法开始发挥作用。由于TikTok有地域限制，你的内容最初只会展示给与你账号所在地区相同的用户。但只要你持续发布内容并保持较高的互动率，算法就会逐渐将你的内容推送到其他地区。这就是游戏从一个市场开始，最终走向国际市场的过程。
虽然 Shorts 和 Reels 不像 TikTok 那样存在严格的地区限制，但由于时区差异，它们也往往会在初期将你的内容推送至本地。因此，定期创作并发布短视频内容对于提升游戏在全球的曝光度至关重要。当然，与游戏媒体的沟通推广仍然非常有效，Acorn 拥有超过 2500 个联系人，其中包括 IGN、PCGamer 和 Rock Paper Shotgun 等知名媒体，可以为此提供支持。
Ready to Go West?
There are some things you can do to expose your game more in the Western market. While the Chinese gaming market continues to grow rapidly, countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, (Japan, and South Korea) still represent large and affluent player bases. With the right approach, from high‑quality translation, optimized store pages, local creator outreach, to participation in key regional events, Chinese studios can reach these markets effectively.
In our recent partnership with Paras Games on their upcoming game, Pass The Fear, during the February Steam Next Fest, we managed to achieve some strong results as a result of our efforts with press and content creators:
Ranked 33rd from nearly 16,000 demos.
Ranked 14th in concurrent players, with 2,266 CCU on day three of the event.
Multiplied follower count by x1.25 and ranked at 95 amongst all games.
准备好进军海外市场了吗？
当然，有很多方法能够有效提高游戏在西方市场的曝光度。虽然中国游戏市场持续快速增长，但美国、英国、德国、法国、意大利（以及日本和韩国）等国家仍然拥有庞大且消费能力较高的玩家群体。通过采取正确的策略，例如高质量的本地化翻译、优化商店页面、与当地创作者合作以及参与重要的区域性活动，中国游戏工作室能够有效地拓展这些市场。
我们最近与 Paras Games 合作开发他们即将推出的游戏， 在二月份的Steam Next Fest中，我们与媒体和内容创作者通力合作，为《Pass The Fear》取得了一些显著成果：
排名第 33 位。
在比赛第三天，同时在线玩家人数排名第 14 位，达到2,266 人。
粉丝数量乘以 1.25，在所有游戏中排名第 95 位。
Pass The Fear ranked 14th in concurrent players from nearly 16,000 demos in the Feb Steam Next Fest.
在 2 月份的 Steam Next Fest 中，《Pass The Fear》在近 16,000 个试玩版中同时在线玩家人数排名第 14 位。
Our strategy was to focus on content creators first and foremost. By capturing the attention of Western content creators and games influencers, we were able to start to drive attention ahead of the Next Fest and therefore boost press awareness at the start of the show, leading to subsequent coverage and a snowball effect with the Steam discoverability algorithm.
我们的策略是优先聚焦于内容创作者再进一步推广。通过吸引西方内容创作者和游戏界有影响力人士的关注，我们得以在 Next Fest 开始之前就吸引到了玩家的关注，从而在展会开始时提升媒体曝光度，进而获得后续报道，并通过 Steam 的发现算法产生滚雪球效应。
We were happy to see Wanderbots covering Pass The Fear as part of our campaign during Steam Next Fest
我们很高兴看到 Wanderbots 在 Steam Next Fest 期间分享了《Pass The Fear》，作为我们宣传活动的一部分。
Native Translation
Native translation is essential for instilling trust with Western players. In a global market where players have plenty of choices, poor translation can really break immersion and signal poor quality. For example, Crimson Desert faced criticism after players noticed issues in the game’s translations. This forum also includes additional examples of poor game translations, particularly in non‑English languages. Overall, insufficient or unprofessional localization can cause players to lose confidence in your game and turn away from it, ultimately hurting the trust you’re already starting to build with them.
If needed, Acorn can offer native translations with professional translators and gamers based in target regions, with subsequent proofing. Translation from Chinese into Japanese, Korean, Russian, English, Dutch, Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese can all be achieved as part of a wider marketing or localisation campaign.
本地化翻译
本地化翻译对于赢得西方玩家的信任至关重要。在全球市场玩家选择众多的情况下，糟糕的翻译会严重破坏游戏体验，并给人留下质量低劣的印象。例如，《红色沙漠》就曾因翻译问题遭受玩家差评。 此论坛上还列举了其他劣质翻译游戏的例子，尤其是本体非英语游戏。总而言之，本地化的匮乏与不专业会导致玩家对游戏失去信心，最终放弃游玩，严重损害制作团队与玩家群体初步建立起的信任关系。
若有需要， Acorn 可提供由目标地区专业译员和游戏玩家组成的翻译团队，进行本地化翻译，并提供后续校对服务。我们可以将中文翻译成日语、韩语、俄语、英语、荷兰语、西班牙语、法语、意大利语和葡萄牙语，以此作为更广泛的市场营销或本地化活动的基础部分。
Using Steam Effectively for Better Exposure
Steam is arguably the largest platform for indie games in Western markets, so it is important to make full use of the tools and features it provides. Setting up your game’s Steam page should be the priority, since it’s the main reference point for potential players. We track on–page activity to measure and refine player wishlist behaviour. After the page is ready, look for opportunities to post regular updates, such as devlogs or roadmaps. This helps show that development is active and begins building a connection with your community.
It is also beneficial to participate in Steam’s themed events whenever possible! Even if your game isn’t eligible to participate, you can still take advantage of the increased traffic by timing your announcements or updates around it. Many developers saw positive results during the 2025 Winter Sale by aligning their marketing beats with the event. This approach was discussed by the developers of IRON NEST: Heavy Turret Simulator, who reported gaining approximately 20,000 wishlists during that period.🤯
If you’re looking for strategies to reach video game players in the United States, Europe, Australia or other regions, please contact us to receive our full services deck or set up a free strategy call - both available in Chinese.
有效利用Steam以获得更好曝光
Steam 可以说是西方市场最大的独立游戏平台，因此充分利用它提供的工具和功能非常重要。 首要任务是搭建游戏的Steam页面，因为它是潜在玩家的主要参考点。我们会追踪页面上的活动，以此来衡量并优化玩家的愿望单行为。商店页准备就绪后，需要定期发布更新，例如制作团队开发日志或开发策略。这有助于展现制作团队的开发积极性，并借此机会在玩家社区中建立联系。
参与Steam的主题活动同样非常重要！即使你的游戏不符合参与条件，你仍然可以利用活动期间的流量增长，将公告或更新安排在活动期间发布。许多开发者在2025年冬季促销期间通过将营销策略与活动同步，获得了显著成效。据《IRON NEST：重型炮塔模拟器》的制作团队声称，通过这种方法，他们在冬促期间获得了约 20,000 个愿望单。🤯
如果您正在寻求触及美国、欧洲、澳大利亚或其他地区玩家群体的策略，请联系我们获取完整服务介绍，或是一次免费的策略咨询——这两项服务均可通过中文进行。