Every year, ChinaJoy provides a window into the direction of the global gaming industry. In 2026, that window revealed a market undergoing a fundamental transformation. Beyond the scale of new releases, global participation, and technological showcases, the conversations across Shanghai reflected a massive shift in how the industry thinks about the future of gaming.
This year's theme, Level Up with AI, echoed throughout the exhibition halls, conference sessions, and business meetings. For us at Affle, the discussions at ChinaJoy reinforced several strategic shifts we've been seeing in recent years.
1. Verticalized AI Redefining the Global Playground through Consumer Intent
Gaming presents challenges unlike any other vertical.
Player motivations change by genre. User value evolves across different stages of gameplay. Creative fatigue happens faster. Seasonal events can dramatically shift engagement patterns, while monetisation models differ across casual, mid-core, and hardcore titles.
The next generation of driving conversions for marketers is increasingly on verticalized AI expertise. At Affle, this vision has shaped how we build AI-first solutions: not as one-size-fits-all automation, but as intelligence designed around the realities of each industry.
“The gaming ecosystem is increasingly becoming a cross-screen experience, and for gaming businesses it's important to connect the user experiences across devices. At YouAppi, we see AI-powered intelligence, cross-screen engagement, and returning user conversions working together to help brands deliver more relevant experiences, strengthen player relationships, and drive longer-term value.”
- Nisan Schitrit, CEO, YouAppi
2. Regional intelligence in a global gaming economy
As game developers look beyond their home markets to unlock growth across Southeast Asia, MENA, Latin America and other high-potential regions, understanding local consumer behaviour has become a strategic advantage rather than a tactical consideration. While technology can enable scale, sustained business outcomes increasingly depend on interpreting the cultural, behavioural and commercial nuances that shape consumer decisions in each market.
As someone working closely with China's digital ecosystem, including the gaming industry, Klaus Cui, General Manager, China, Affle, believes the industry's next phase will be shaped as much by regional consumer understanding as by technological advancement.
“What stood out to me this year was that the conversations at our booth were no longer just about acquiring more new users. People were increasingly exploring new traffic opportunities, such as CTV inventory, as well as how to re-engage existing users whose value has already been proven through retargeting. These two areas are gradually becoming increasingly important topics in app marketing, reflecting a broader shift in the industry from simply acquiring more users to unlocking more value from the users we already have.”
3. The Future of Gaming is Connected Across Screens
The way gamers discover and engage with games has fundamentally changed.
A gaming journey no longer begins and ends on a single device. A consumer might first encounter a game trailer on Connected TV, watch gameplay on a creator's livestream, explore reviews on social platforms, and only later complete registration or make their first purchase on their mobile device. Every interaction contributes to intent, yet only one of them may be recognised as the "conversion."
This shift presents both a challenge and an opportunity for gaming marketers.
"The industry must move beyond planning for individual screens and start planning for consumer journeys. This is especially relevant for China advertisers reaching users overseas, where CTV is quickly becoming one of the fastest-growing performance channels, one that delivers incremental scale and high completion rates across premium inventory. With consumers moving between CTV and mobile, the opportunity today lies in making every touchpoint accountable to a conversion outcome to prove the real impact of your marketing efforts.” - Benjamin Waters, VP APAC, Jampp
4. The Next Opportunity Lies Beyond the First Conversion
For years, gaming success was measured by how efficiently businesses could drive new player acquisitions. Today, the conversation is evolving towards a more important question: what happens after the first conversion?
This shift is prompting gaming businesses to rethink how they measure performance. Instead of viewing campaigns as isolated events, marketers are increasingly focused on understanding the complete consumer lifecycle, including focusing on repeat user conversions and long-term consumer value.
"The next frontier of gaming belongs to those titles that understand the value of consumer choice. Every conversion--served across diverse screens--creates a new opportunity to learn, anticipate, and serve with greater relevance. In the years ahead, competitive advantage will come from knowing which signals matter, when to act on them, and how to turn data intelligence into outcomes that compound over time." - Martje Abeldt, CEO, RevX
For Orit Sharon, VP, Global Marketing, Affle, gaming offers valuable insights into how digital consumers interact with technology, making it an important lens for understanding broader industry transformation.
"Gaming audiences are incredibly diverse, shaped by different motivations, levels of loyalty, play styles, and lifetime value. Understanding these personas requires far more than traditional segmentation. It calls for AI-led Consumer Intelligence that can interpret intent, contextual behaviour and creative preferences across every interaction. When combined with interactive formats, this intelligence enables game developers to build stronger recall, encourage repeat engagement from existing players, and create experiences that remain relevant long after the first conversion."
ChinaJoy 2026 made one thing clear: the future of gaming will be shaped as much by consumer understanding as by technological advancement. Across every discussion, from AI and regional intelligence to cross-screen engagement and lifecycle growth, the focus was increasingly on building experiences that are more relevant, measurable, and sustainable. Those conversations are likely to influence not only where the gaming industry goes next, but how marketing continues to evolve more broadly.
