ChinaJoy 2025, Asia’s largest gaming exhibition, swung its doors open at 9:00 AM on August 1st at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre.

Celebrating its 22nd anniversary, this year's iteration is co-organized by the Audio, Video and Digital Publishing Association and Howell International Trade Fair, with backing from the National Press and Publication Administration and the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government. Last year’s event drew in a staggering crowd of over 360,000 visitors.

The theme for this year is 'Gather What You Love.' It is a blatant attempt to signal that the event is looking beyond mere gaming, aiming to stretch its tentacles into animation, comics, subculture, and cosplay—essentially every corner of digital entertainment.

While ChinaJoy has been pushing this convergence for years, the organisers are dialling it up to eleven this time. The focus is squarely on cultural experiences, community support, and interactive events. Expect cosplay contests, game tournaments, and developer meet-and-greets designed to keep the attendees from just walking around and actually engaging with the culture.

With 600 companies from 31 countries in attendance, the scale is, as expected, massive. You have the local titans like Tencent, Baidu, NetEase, BYD, and Xiaomi rubbing shoulders with international giants like Microsoft, Sony, and Intel. There is a healthy smattering of indie devs and, inevitably, companies pushing AI-driven solutions. Meanwhile, the China Game Developers Conference (CGDC) and the China Digital Entertainment Conference (CDEC) are running in parallel, which is where the real industry talk happens.

The event has claimed 11.5 of the 17 halls at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre. Out of those, 9 halls are dedicated to B2C exhibitions for the public, while 2.5 halls are cordoned off for the B2B crowd.

The B2C section covers 110,000 square metres, hosted by 283 companies. Tencent, NetEase, and Perfect World are out in force with their usual live events. Sony’s PlayStation booth is a hub for demos, while the likes of TCL CSOT, ZOL, and Sony’s gaming brand, INZONE, are showcasing their latest hardware. The show floor is segmented by themes ranging from 'Smart Home' and 'Smart Car' to 'Toy & Figure' and 'Robotics'. Notably, the N5 hall has been transformed into a dedicated Snapdragon-themed zone.

To avoid a health disaster in the summer heat, three halls have been repurposed as waiting areas and changing rooms for cosplayers. By streamlining the layout and cutting out dead space, the organizers have managed to increase the actual exhibition density, making the event feel larger than ever despite the hall limitations.

ChinaJoy 2025 runs for four days until Monday, August 4th. Gamemeca is on the ground, covering every weird and wonderful corner of the show. You can find our full coverage on the Gamemeca ChinaJoy Special Feature Page if you fancy a deeper dive.