Instant games are growing outside the app stores
A mini game costs little to make, needs no download, and can pay its developer more than China's Android stores do. That let tiny teams reach huge audiences. In China, big publishers and their advertising budgets have since followed them in.
What a mini game is
A mini game is a self-contained game built with web technologies such as HTML5 or JavaScript and distributed inside a larger app, rather than installed on its own. Apple's App Store has supported mini apps and games since 2017.
Latest figure · 2026 so far
31.66 billion yuan
What mini games earned in China in the first half of 2026, up 36.01% while the whole domestic market grew 12.17%. The committee has not posted this report on its own sites, so the figure is as GameDev Reports relays it.
Where it stands
Games that run inside WeChat and Douyin, with nothing to install, earned 53.535 billion yuan in China in 2025, up 34.39% in a market that grew 7.68%. WeChat says more than 500 million people play them each month. Outside China the same idea is spreading through Poki's browser games, YouTube's Playables and Discord's Activities. Apple cut its fee on purchases in such games to 15% in 2025, and many Chinese hits still reach other countries as ordinary store apps.
Mini-game revenue more than doubled from 2023 to 2025, and the first half of 2026 was up 36.01% on a year earlier.
*What mini games earned in China in the first half of 2026, up 36.01% while the whole domestic market grew 12.17%. The committee has not posted this report on its own sites, so the figure is as GameDev Reports relays it.
SourceCADPA Game Working Committee, 2023 China Game Industry Report (15 December 2023)
| Year | What China's mini games earned, billion yuan |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 20 |
| 2024 | 39.836 |
| 2025 | 53.535 |
| 2026* | 31.66 |
Timeline
2017
WeChat launches its first mini game
WeChat, Tencent's messaging app, debuts its first mini game, Tiao yi tiao. Mini games are played inside the app, with no separate download or installation.
2022
A four-person studio's WeChat game reaches 213 million players
Sheep a Sheep, a tile-matching game playable only inside WeChat, takes off in September 2022. Made by a four-person team on a reported budget of 500,000 yuan, it reaches 213 million monthly players and takes in over 100 million yuan that year.
2024
YouTube puts more than 75 games inside its app
YouTube launches Playables, free games played directly on YouTube on the web and in its phone apps, starting with more than 75 titles such as Angry Birds Showdown and Cut the Rope. It widens access to more users over the following months.
Discord asks developers to build games into its chats
Discord invites outside game developers to build Activities, games played inside Discord, with its Embedded App SDK. Discord says its apps are used by over 25% of its monthly active users.
2025
Douyin's mini games reach 171 million monthly players
As of August 2025, WeChat's mini games have 571 million monthly players and Douyin's 171 million, according to a report by Meridian Play and JINKE. Douyin grows faster in the number of games buying advertising, up 70%.
Apple cuts its fee to 15% for games inside other apps
Apple opens its Mini Apps Partner Program for apps that host mini apps and games built with web technologies such as HTML5 and JavaScript. Hosts that join pay a reduced commission of 15% on qualifying in-app purchases, if they support Apple's age range and commerce tools.
WeChat brings payments to its mini programs on iPhone
WeChat announces that its mini programs will support virtual payments on iOS, with Apple's commission cut to 15%. Apple's rules had long restricted such payments on iPhones.
Poki counts 625 million players in a year
Poki, a site for free browser games, says 625 million people played on it in 2025, including 100 million every month, across 11.1 billion plays. The figures are the company's own.
YouTube tests an AI tool that turns prompts into games
YouTube begins a closed beta of Playables Builder, which uses Gemini 3 to turn short text, image or video prompts into small games. It is open to approved creators in the US and three other countries.
2026
WeChat says 500 million people play its mini games each month
At its developer conference, WeChat says its mini games have passed 500 million monthly players and 500,000 developers, more than 80% of them teams of fewer than 30 people. More than 80 games passed one million daily players in the past year. These are WeChat's own figures.
YouTube Playables reaches more than 50 markets
YouTube widens Playables to users in more than 50 markets. Developers can still reach it only through early access, by submitting games through an interest form.
Consequences
012024
Developers keep more than China's Android stores allow
China's Android phone makers take 50% of what players spend in games. Developers can keep as much as 70% on WeChat, and Douyin lets some preferred partners keep as much as 90%, reports Sixth Tone, a state-owned outlet.
022025
China's big publishers now make mini games
According to 36Kr, 70% of China's listed game companies have started investing in mini games, and Century Huatong and 37 Interactive Entertainment make two of the biggest. Supercell has ported Brawl Stars and Clash Royale to WeChat.
032026
Apple takes a share of WeChat's games on iPhone
Under WeChat's 2026 terms, developers in Apple's program receive 70% of what iPhone players spend through Apple's in-app purchase. Until 31 December 2026 WeChat waives its own fee, which it estimates leaves developers about 88%.
WeChat Open Documentation, 2026 mini game payment incentive policy (read 30 September 2026)
042026
Mobile studios plan browser versions
In a survey commissioned by Poki, which runs a browser games site, 53% of the companies asked plan to port their mobile games to browsers within a year. 62% of the players surveyed said they had downloaded or bought a game after first playing it on the web.
Objections
Counterpoint2025
The mini-game figure may sit inside the mobile one
China's official report gives 53.535 billion yuan for mini-program games beside 257.076 billion yuan for mobile games in 2025, and does not say whether one includes the other. The two cannot safely be added, and the mini-game growth cannot be read as extra to mobile.
CADPA Game Working Committee, 2025 China Game Industry Report (19 December 2025)
Counterpoint2025
The hits reach other countries through the app stores
Many studios taking Chinese mini games abroad wrap them as native apps for Google Play and the App Store, which blurs the line between mini games and mobile games, 36Kr reports. Whiteout Survival, the overseas version of Century Huatong's Endless Winter, has ranked first in revenue among Chinese mobile games abroad.
Counterpoint2025
Small teams find it harder to break through
Small teams make up 80% of the mini-game market, but a creative game that once drew hundreds of thousands of players without paid promotion now struggles to pass 100,000. 37 Interactive Entertainment spent 5.36 billion yuan on internet traffic in the first half of 2024.
Counterpoint2026
WeChat pays its bonuses in advertising
WeChat pays several of its 2026 bonuses for mini-game developers as credit that can only be spent on advertising. A game's base bonus, 10% of its monthly net revenue, is unlocked by spending on ads, and from 22 September 2026 a new game's launch bonus can only be spent advertising that game.
WeChat Open Documentation, 2026 mini game payment incentive policy (read 30 September 2026)
What to watch
2026
China's 2026 game industry report
The committee's report on 2026, when it usually publishes in mid-December, as it did on 19 December 2025. Its outlook for 2026 said mini games would keep growing fast, and the report will add a full-year point to this chart.
CADPA Game Working Committee, 2025 China Game Industry Report (19 December 2025)
2026
WeChat's iPhone fee waiver ends
31 December 2026, when WeChat's waiver of its own fee on iPhone purchases ends. Unless it is extended, developers in Apple's program go from about 88% of what players spend to 70%.
WeChat Open Documentation, 2026 mini game payment incentive policy (read 30 September 2026)
2026
A first player count for YouTube Playables
Any player or revenue figure YouTube publishes for Playables, or Playables Builder opening beyond its closed beta. The expansion to more than 50 markets in September 2026 came with no player count.
Further reading
- ReportingBehind the Numbers: China's Big Market for Mini Gamessixthtone.com
- AnalysisIs the Overseas Expansion of Mini-Games Turning into a Big Companies' Game?eu.36kr.com
- ReportingInside Poki's vision for the future of browser gamingpocketgamer.biz
Where to follow it CADPA Game Working Committee reports, the WeChat Mini Game Developers Conference, 36Kr, GameDev Reports, PocketGamer.biz