ChinaJoy 2026 Will Kick Off on July 31
The press conference for the 23rd China Digital Entertainment Expo & Conference (ChinaJoy) 2026 was held on June 24 at the Shanghai International Convention Center. It was announced that this year's ChinaJoy will take place from July 31 to August 3 at the Shanghai New International Expo Center. During the event, organizers announced that ChinaJoy 2026 will take place from July 31 to August 3 at the Shanghai New International Expo Center under the theme "Level Up with AI." Driven by an unprecedented lineup of playable games and a cutting-edge AI technology ecosystem, the exhibition will showcase the latest innovations and achievements across the digital entertainment industry. Wan Fangyu, General Manager of Shanghai Howell International Trade Fair Ltd., presided over the conference and outlined the overall preparations and key highlights of the expo.
Scale Hits New Highs: Over 1,000 Game Titles and Trending Products on Display
The 23rd ChinaJoy continues to expand in scale, with a total exhibition area exceeding 140,000 square meters. As of now, nearly 900 companies have confirmed their participation, including 275 foreign-funded companies hailing from 39 countries and regions, such as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, and South Korea. The BTOC Interactive Entertainment Halls span nearly 120,000 square meters and bring together over 350 companies, while the BTOB Comprehensive Business Halls cover 25,000 square meters with more than 500 participating enterprises, 46.6% of which are foreign-funded. More than 500 game companies and development teams will showcase over 1,000 game titles on-site, with an additional 600-plus games registered for the concurrent Steam online festival. Leading companies across sectors including technology, hardware, pop culture collectibles, and automobiles will also participate, bringing over a thousand trending products to the show, jointly creating a summer celebration of digital entertainment.
Flagship Products in the Spotlight: Interactive Experience Fully Upgraded
Tencent Games, NetEase Games, Blizzard Entertainment, Century Huatong, PlayStation, and more than 500 exhibitors will offer over 1,000 playable game demos on-site. Multiple demo zones will also feature a vast array of outstanding indie titles. Qualcomm, together with its ecosystem partners, will launch the Snapdragon Theme Pavilion again; centered on the concept "AI-Driven Experience Evolution," it will present an immersive digital entertainment experience across multiple devices. Companies including Unitree Robotics, LimX Dynamics, MagicLab, Lumi Robotics, and Yunmu Intelligent Manufacturing will showcase humanoid robots and embodied intelligence products, introducing a new wave of interactive experiences. ZOL (Zhongguancun Online) will team up with 20 brands — including Samsung, Lenovo, Canon, and Hikvision — to create a tech-entertainment showcase. In the imaging sector, manufacturers like Sony, Nikon, Panasonic, Polaroid, and Sigma will jointly present a comprehensive, end-to-end imaging experience. TCL CSOT will join forces with terminal brand partners such as Lenovo, ASUS, LG, Acer, and BenQ to deliver an extraordinary display experience for gamers around the globe. BYD will bring its latest innovations in smart cockpit systems and new energy vehicle technologies. In the pop culture collectibles space, brands including Hot Toys, MOSHOWTOYS, INART, JOYTOY, and Prime 1 Studio will present their hit products. Meanwhile, brands such as AULUMU, OUROPROXY EDC, BPMODS EDC, TWILA, and KADA EDC will gather in the Ultimate Gear Area (UGA), spearheading a new trend in high-end stress-relief consumer products.
For details on the exhibits at ChinaJoy 2026, please refer to the Exhibit Highlights Summary (Chinese only).
Expanding Global Reach: Building a Global Hub for the Digital Entertainment Industry
This year's exhibition will bring together companies from over 30 countries and regions, with overseas trade visitors projected to reach 10,000, thereby creating a global gateway for industry collaboration. Exhibitor delegations from countries and regions such as Russia, South Korea, Spain, Poland, the Philippines, and Japan, as well as Hong Kong, China, are participating in full force, covering a combined area of nearly 900 square meters. ChinaJoy will continue to serve as a world-class platform for industry integration, driving the transformation and upgrading of the digital entertainment industry.
High-Profile Partnerships: A Powerful Alliance to Create New Value
ChinaJoy (China Digital Entertainment Expo & Conference) has entered into a strategic partnership with the Peon Art Museum Chongqing. Set in the Year of the Horse (2026), this collaboration will leverage the expo as a platform to drive cross-sector integration between art and technology, fostering innovation through the fusion of classic IPs and the digital industry. From July 29 to August 3, the "2026 ChinaJoy Game Show" dedicated page will once again be featured on the homepages of both Steam and the Steam China platform. With a significantly upgraded lineup showcasing major titles from top global game publishers and independent developers, the event delivers a comprehensive, multi-dimensional experience that bridges the offline expo with online engagement. This year, Douyin Live will launch its first platform-level competition targeting pan-voice streamers, attracting participants from voice chatrooms, virtual streaming, and radio and audio broadcasting sectors. "Alipay Tap!" feature introduces a novel near-field interaction experience at the expo; attendees can simply tap their ticket stubs with their phones to unlock exclusive digital collectibles and core services, while also accessing maps, exhibitor details, exhibition schedules, and a "main quest" check-in feature. Taobao & Tmall Trendy Toys is partnering exclusively with ChinaJoy to launch the "2026 ChinaJoy Cloud Expo" online pavilion, offering a one-stop experience for browsing and purchasing popular items such as collectible figures, mecha models, and IP merchandise. Kuaishou has established a deep collaboration with ChinaJoy, inviting top KOLs from cosplay and esports communities to create large-scale livestream events, including interactive cosplay challenges. JD Beauty has become the official beauty strategic partner of ChinaJoy 2026, co-creating the "ChinaJoy × JD Beauty Carnival" IP and focusing on the youth-oriented beauty market segment.
Conference Series: Keeping a Finger on the Pulse of the Industry
The 2026 ChinaJoy Conference Series will focus on the theme of "AI-Driven Digital Content Creation." Comprising six major industry summits, the series establishes a premier platform for industry exchange that spans gaming, the AI ecosystem, digital consumption scenarios, and global expansion strategies. It introduces the Digital Entertainment Consumption Scenarios Summit to reshape the connections between people, products, and venues in offline entertainment spaces, driving the industry's transformation from simple online product transactions toward an integrated physical ecosystem combining hardware, content, space, and operations. Additionally, the new ChinaJoy Micro-drama Innovation Forum explores how AI technology propels the short drama sector beyond a mere battle for traffic toward high-quality production, helping enterprises overcome cultural and geographic barriers to create global hit content.
Smart Service Upgrades Enhance the Exhibition Experience
The 2026 ChinaJoy will introduce a series of upgraded smart services designed to enhance the overall exhibition experience for both industry professionals and players. The exhibition's business matchmaking system has been upgraded, with successful matchmaking participants now eligible to apply for Trade Visitor Passes. In collaboration with iFLYTEK, intelligent translation devices will be deployed throughout the BTOB exhibition area, providing real-time multilingual interpretation and transcription to facilitate cross-border business communications. To further improve on-site navigation and operational efficiency, the exhibition will introduce an optimized booth numbering system and enhanced wayfinding signage, along with dedicated self-service badge collection areas to streamline entry procedures. For public visitors, entry routes will also be optimized with dynamic, real-time adjustments to ensure a more comfortable experience while navigating the venue. Meanwhile, the CJ Arena interactive program will receive a major upgrade with the launch of an official card collection and points campaign. Attendees can form teams to earn bonus points and redeem exclusive ChinaJoy merchandise through prize draws, creating a more engaging and interactive on-site experience. Additionally, ChinaJoy has partnered with ULS Robotics — a leading company in the exoskeleton industry — allowing on-site visitors to experience cutting-edge exoskeleton technology firsthand.
2026 ChinaJoy Early Bird Tickets Going on Sale Soon
Tickets for this year's ChinaJoy will be released in three phases:
- July 8 (Beijing Time, UTC+8): Super Early Bird Tickets go on sale
- July 9 (Beijing Time, UTC+8): Early Bird Tickets go on sale
- July 10 (Beijing Time, UTC+8): General Ticket sales open
Domestic attendees can pre-register for tickets one week in advance by searching for "ChinaJoy" on any official ticketing platform. Official ticketing platforms include Damai, the "CJ魔方" WeChat Mini Program, show.bilibili.com, Alipay "蓝花火", Ticketplanet, Ctrip, and ShowStart. Overseas attendees can purchase tickets via the MaiSeat platform.
Trade Visitor Passes and Conference Passes are now available for purchase via the "CJ魔方" WeChat Mini Program and the Huodongxing platform. Please note that passes for all CDEC conferences and forums can be obtained free of charge by scanning the QR code with WeChat to join the official CDEC conference group before July 15.
Media Contact: info@nendigital.com Nina Crisostomo | NEN Digital