23rd ChinaJoy Set for July 31: "Travel with AI" to Reshape Global Digital Entertainment Landscape

The 23rd China International Digital Entertainment Expo & Conference (ChinaJoy) kicked off its 2026 press conference at the Shanghai International Convention Center today, where organizers confirmed a July 31–August 3 window at the Shanghai New International Expo Center. Taglined "Travel with AI," the event is positioned around an unmatched game-trial roster and a frontier AI-tech ecosystem, designed to present the full breadth of the digital entertainment sector's latest advances.

All attendees present at today's press event.

Tang Jiajun — Deputy Secretary-General, China Audio-Video & Digital Publishing Association; Secretary-General, Game Publishing Committee; Chair, E-sports Committee.

Lu Yiwei, Director — Cultural Reform & Development Division, and Director — Online Publishing Division, Shanghai Municipal Publicity Department.

Wan Fangyu, General Manager, Shanghai Howinvent Exhibition Co., Ltd.

Scale hits new high: more than 1,000 game titles and trending products confirmed for exhibition.

Total exhibition space exceeds 140,000 sqm, with nearly 900 exhibitors — 275 of them foreign, representing 39 countries and regions including the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Germany, Japan, and South Korea. The BTOC Interactive Entertainment Hall, at nearly 120,000 sqm, hosts more than 350 companies; the BTOB Business Matchmaking Hall, at 25,000 sqm, accommodates over 500, of which 46.6% are foreign-invested. More than 500 game studios and teams are slated to debut upwards of 1,000 titles on site, while over 600 games have entered the Steam Online Festival. Tech, hardware, collectibles, and automotive leaders are also contributing over 1,000 trending products, cementing a summer digital entertainment showcase of considerable scale.

Headline titles converge; interactive engagement elevated across the board.

More than 500 exhibitors — including Tencent Games, NetEase Games, Blizzard Entertainment, Century Huatong, Giant Network, Perfect World, Kingsoft Seeyou, China Mobile Migu, Nuverse, Shunwang Technology, PlayStation, 360 Games, KINGNET, Bilibili Games, Linbei Entertainment, 4399&Haoyou Express, and Pocketpair — will offer over 1,000 titles for on-site trials. Multiple play zones will concentrate a broad slate of independent games. Qualcomm, joined by ecosystem partners, will erect a Snapdragon-themed pavilion centered on "AI-Driven Experience Evolution," delivering multi-terminal immersive digital entertainment. Unitree Robotics, LimX Dynamics, Magic Atom, Lumi Intelligence, and Yumeng Intelligence will present humanoid robots and embodied AI products, inaugurating a new interactive frontier. MCHOOSE, AJAZZ, VGN, Visionox, ATK GEAR, Qianxingzhe, aigo, Mobius, Kioxia, Beyerdynamic, SanDisk, and FORESEE will be present. Zhongguancun Online, allied with 20 brands including Samsung, Lenovo, Canon, Hikvision, YMTC, HKC, and AOC, will build a dedicated tech-and-entertainment booth. Sony, Nikon, Panasonic, Polaroid, Sigma, and SmallRig will together anchor a full-chain imaging experience. TCL CSOT, in concert with Lenovo, AGON, EVNIA, ASUS, LG, MSI, Acer, BenQ, TCL, Sony, and TCL RayNeo, will leverage APEX TrueView to stage a display-product showcase for gamers worldwide. BYD will present smart-cockpit and new-energy innovations. Taotian Trendy Toys, Hot Toys, MOSHOWTOYS, threezero, INART, Kayou, Tianwen Kadokawa, Damanjiang, JOYTOY, and Prime 1 Studio will bring flagship products. Lao Feng Xiang, Deli, and Puyin Hotel are also confirmed. AULUMU, OUROPROXY EDC, 01, GD, PEL, BPMODS EDC, TWILA, Xiaomang, KADA EDC, and Jisufeiteng will convene in the UGA Ultimate Gear zone, commanding the high-end decompression-consumption segment.

A comprehensive list of 2026 ChinaJoy exhibits is available in the highlights digest.

An inaugural official main stage, paired with several new exhibition zones, will debut — a strategy powered by content and technology alike.

The first-ever ChinaJoy Official Main Stage will debut, with the Intel Master Challenge Finals engineered to drive event excitement. A new Vision Future zone will spotlight intelligent robotics, large-language models, and wearable tech. The ChinaJoy Next Play game-experience area will provide hands-on access to AI NPCs, interactive narratives, and generative content — staging a lab-like environment for AI-game convergence. A dedicated imaging-and-anime pavilion will bridge the full "capture-process-output" chain, while the UGA Ultimate Gear EDC PARK zone will target high-net-worth Gen Z consumers through premium stress-relief products. These first-of-their-kind moves underscore a dual "content + technology" strategy.

International footprint broadened, positioning ChinaJoy as a worldwide digital-entertainment nerve center.

More than 30 countries and regions are represented, with overseas professional attendance projected to reach the tens of thousands, establishing the expo as a bridgehead for global collaboration. Delegations from Russia, South Korea, Spain, Poland, the Philippines, Japan, and Hong Kong (China) will collectively occupy nearly 900 sqm. ChinaJoy intends to further hone its two-way, multi-tiered international ecosystem, leveraging its standing as a first-rate integration platform to accelerate digital entertainment's evolution.

Landmark partnerships and strategic alliances coalesce to build a concentrated value center.

ChinaJoy has formalized a strategic alliance with the Xu Beihong Art Museum. For the 2026 Year of the Horse, the expo will serve as a vehicle for art-tech crossover, enabling classic IPs to collide with the digital sector and establishing a fresh benchmark where cultural confidence meets industrial innovation. From July 29 through August 3, the "2026 ChinaJoy Game Show" microsite will return to the homepages of both Steam and Steam China with an upgraded roster, featuring curated titles from top-tier global publishers and indie developers alike, effectively erecting a "second venue" in the digital realm and achieving a globally integrated "offline event, online engagement" model. Douyin Live will launch "Sound Wave Carnival Season" — a platform-level competition targeting voice-centric streamers across voice chat rooms, virtual streaming, and radio categories. Designated as the "Official Content Cooperation Platform" and "Official Live-Streaming Platform" for ChinaJoy, Douyin Live will commit traffic resources, build a dedicated themed zone, and invite winning streamers and special guests for on-site appearances and live performances. Alipay's "Tap" feature will debut a new near-field interaction experience: "Tap to Team Up" and "Point Multiplier" mechanics, alongside a "Tap-to-Collect Physical Ticket" series embedded with NFT chips. Attendees need only tap their phones against the ticket to unlock exclusive digital collectibles and core event services, as well as four service modules — maps, exhibitor data, schedules, and the main check-in route. "Tap" services will go live progressively in early July, with a dedicated interactive zone on site. Taobao Tmall Trendy Toys, in a first-ever partnership, will exclusively launch the "2026 ChinaJoy Cloud Tour" online venue, aggregating figurines, mecha models, and IP merchandise for a seamless exhibition-and-shopping experience. Kuaishou has entered a deep collaboration with ChinaJoy, committing hundreds of millions in traffic resources and recruiting top cosplay and esports KOLs to stage large-scale live events such as the Coser Challenge. Its official roles: content partner and deep-cooperation media outlet. JD Beauty has been named the official beauty strategic partner for 2026 ChinaJoy, co-building the "ChinaJoy × JD Beauty Carnival" IP across the content-to-product-to-consumption chain and sharpening its focus on the youth beauty vertical.

Cross-dimension synergy: addressing Gen Z's evolving entertainment demands.

ChinaJoy 2026 has teamed up with Huanwen Culture and Triangle Cat Culture for two themed concerts. August 1: the AniSonic Stardust 10th Anniversary Concert at Xinglin Tianxia (Bingang Business Center), Hongkou District, headlined by virtual singer Stardust — whose catalog has surpassed 100 million streams — with a roughly 120-minute show featuring an immersive stage, fan co-creation wall, free stage, and interactive areas, plus an exclusive co-branded merchandise debut. August 2: the Xuan Ge Chinese-Style Concert at WASI VAS est, assembling established guofeng artists who fuse classical aesthetics with diverse genres for a full-sensory Chinese-style presentation.

A Coser Free Walk event will bring together top-tier creators from gaming, anime, collectibles, and technology for an inter-dimensional gathering. A new "Underground Idol Interactive Zone" will offer customized avatars and expo-exclusive ice-cream merchandise. A deep tie-up with "JX3" (Sword Net 3) will complete a closed loop spanning online emotional engagement and offline social consumption. The 2026 "Hundred Talents Plan" has been thoroughly upgraded: a dual-engine strategy of online content preheating and offline deep interaction will generate billions of impressions for exhibitors.

Fostering next-gen talent development and driving innovative technology deployment.

The 6th China Game Innovation Competition Exhibition — collecting 204 entries from 19 Chinese provinces and municipalities plus 6 overseas countries, 20% of which originate from Shanghai — will be staged on ChinaJoy's platform to incubate emerging professional talent. A new ChinaJoy AGS Academy Game Zone will debut as a free, professional, global showcase for university-level creations. The second Digital Dragon Cup Global AI Innovation Competition, initiated by Century Huatong, will hold affiliated events during the 2026 ChinaJoy AI Future Ecosystem Conference. ChinaJoy has further allied with 405 Game Bureau to launch the ChinaJoy Next Play zone, highlighting the latest advances in AI gaming and interactive entertainment — spanning AI NPCs, interactive narratives, generative content, and beyond.

Side conferences track sector dynamics, zeroing in on growth-inflection points.

The 2026 ChinaJoy conference slate is anchored to the sector's AI-driven content-creation pulse, with "new growth" and "technology breakout" as its organizing principles. Six major summits will form a premier industry exchange platform covering gaming, AI ecosystems, digital-consumption scenarios, and global expansion. A newly added "Digital Entertainment Consumption Scene Summit" aims to rewire the people-goods-spaces dynamic of offline entertainment along three axes: "ecosystem synergy and value co-creation, scene monetization and long-term operations, and cross-border integration and ecosystem co-building." Discussions will address immersive-hardware x offline-content convergence, digital-twin-enabled physical entertainment, and membership-economy innovation — pushing the digital entertainment sector beyond online product transactions toward a "hardware + content + space + operations" physical ecosystem. A new "Short Drama Innovation Forum," themed "AI Drama: Every Frame a Global Language," will examine how AI pushes short-form video from a traffic contest toward quality-driven production, enabling companies to vault over cultural barriers and generate globally resonant hits.

Trend-culture integration elevates Shanghai's homegrown labels.

The 2026 edition sees a comprehensive revamp of the Shanghai Famous Brands zone, whose old-Shanghai Shikumen architectural design creates a retro-meets-trendy immersive space. Legacy names such as Lei Yun Shang and Maxam are all confirmed, with multiple brands launching expo-exclusive co-branded products that fuse domestic heritage with digital entertainment. A National Intangible Cultural Heritage experience area, paired with check-in activities and other interactive formats, is designed to narrow the distance between younger audiences and traditional culture, amplifying Shanghai-style cultural reach and the city's guochao (national-trend) impact.

Intelligent service upgrades raise the exhibition experience across the board.

Upgrades span three dimensions: backend systems, business matchmaking, and on-site services. Private-domain information services will be refined; the matchmaking engine will be enhanced, with successfully paired entities receiving professional-visitor credential access. iFLYTEK will place intelligent translation equipment in the BTOB zone, supporting real-time multilingual interpretation and transcription for cross-border negotiations. Booth signage and landmark guidance will be upgraded, and self-service credential kiosks will be installed to accelerate entry. Visitor flow routes will be dynamically adjusted in real time, prioritizing shorter walks and attendee comfort. The CJ Arena program has been revamped with an official card-collection points activity: teams can earn multiplied points toward merchandise draws, boosting on-site engagement. ChinaJoy has also partnered with ULS Robotics, a sector leader in exoskeleton robotics, to craft a novel exhibition experience — on-site attendees can personally trial the exoskeleton technology for a cyber-enhanced visit.

"Shanghai Summer" citywide联动 fuels a consumption surge.

In align with the "Shanghai Summer" International Consumption Season, ChinaJoy will work with the Pudong New Area to activate联动 across Lujiazui, Expo, and Qiantan commercial zones, deploying exclusive ticket-stub perks to steer younger attendees toward these districts and boost regional profile and brand reach. Capitalizing on the exhibition's momentum, the second Pudong "Guzi Carnival" will be staged, coordinating multiple commercial areas for a二次元 event that weaves together culture, entertainment, and consumption.

2026 ChinaJoy early-bird tickets set to go on sale.

2026 ChinaJoy tickets will roll out in three phases, per the following timeline:

July 8 — Super early-bird tickets launch. July 9 — Early-bird tickets go live. July 10 — General sale commences.

Domestic attendees may search "ChinaJoy" on Damai, the CJ Mofang official WeChat mini-program, Bilibili Member Store, Alipay Lanhuahuo, Ticket Planet, Ctrip, or Xiudong — on any of the above designated platforms starting one week prior to the sale — to reserve tickets. International attendees can purchase through MaiSeat.

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