When it comes to gaming and livestreaming, China plays by its own rules. From blockbuster titles to platform ecosystems, one of the world’s largest gaming markets operates in a digital space that feels strikingly separate from the West. While Twitch or YouTube dominate global conversations, Chinese audiences are tuned into an entirely different livestreaming universe, one ruled by platforms like DouYu, Huya, Bilibili, and CC163.
But the differences don’t stop at logos or local games. Even the way viewership is measured takes a distinct turn. Forget concurrent viewer counts: instead, Chinese platforms rely on a proprietary "Heat Index", a composite metric that blends everything from interactions and gift-giving to watch time and algorithmic weighting. It’s a system built for China, by China, and one that makes traditional comparisons nearly impossible without dedicated tools.
In this article, we dive into the gaming preferences of Chinese viewers, examine how each platform caters to its own niche, and reveal the most-watched games and genres across China’s livestreaming scene in 2025, all powered by exclusive data from DoHuya.com, our in-house platform tracking Heat Index trends across major Chinese streaming services.
Understanding the Chinese gaming audience
To grasp how livestreamed gaming content performs in China, you first have to understand the players themselves and the unique digital ecosystem they inhabit.
China is home to the world’s largest gaming population, but this isn’t just a matter of scale. Gaming in China is deeply embedded in everyday culture, especially among younger generations.
In urban hubs and rural towns alike, games serve not only as entertainment but as a shared social space. The average gamer in China isn’t a stereotype; they might be a university student grinding through a fantasy MMO, a professional catching up on strategy streams during lunch, or a retiree casually immersed in a farming sim on their phone.
Unlike in the West, where Twitch and YouTube reign supreme, China's livestreaming environment is fragmented across domestic giants. Each platform caters to a slightly different flavor of the Chinese internet: from esports-heavy feeds to anime-inspired fandoms and casual streamers in niche subgenres. But what unites them is a viewing culture that's deeply interactive: livestreams aren’t just watched, they're co-experienced through gifts, comments, and badges, elements that are directly baked into the metrics used to track content popularity.
Want to know more about China’s livestreaming scene? Curious about local viewer habits, platform dynamics, and what really drives engagement across Chinese services?
Then meet DoHuya.com, your dedicated window into the Chinese gaming broadcast market. From genre breakdowns and Heat Index trends to platform-specific insights, DoHuya helps brands, analysts, and rights holders decode what’s truly happening in the world’s biggest and most unique streaming ecosystem.
It’s also a tightly regulated ecosystem. Game content in China is shaped by censorship rules, strict publishing controls, and age-based restrictions. Minors face time-limited sessions enforced by ID verification, and developers must align with content guidelines that discourage graphic violence, religious themes, or politically sensitive material. As a result, the gaming landscape leans more toward teen-friendly experiences, particularly those that emphasize skill, competition, and fantasy storytelling over realism or shock value.
All of this forms a distinctive context in which Chinese viewer preferences emerge, and it’s not one easily decoded through traditional metrics like concurrent viewership or watch hours. That’s where our data comes in.
Platform profiles: What sets each one apart
DouYu and Huya dominate China’s gaming livestream space. Both are backed by Tencent and share similar feature sets: real-time interaction, esports coverage, and large creator communities. Yet, DouYu is often viewed as having a broader entertainment mix, while Huya emphasizes more polished, pro-level esports content and lifestyle segments. Despite rumors of a Tencent-led merger, both continue operating independently.
Why do Chinese platforms use the Heat Index metric?
In China, livestreaming platforms don't show concurrent viewer counts like Twitch or YouTube. Instead, they use a proprietary Heat Index (often called “heat” or “popularity index”), a composite signal that blends multiple engagement factors (broadcast duration, channel traffic, virtual gifting, and more) to reflect real popularity. This system helps the algorithms surface rising stars and niche streamers in China’s monolingual market, where sheer viewer count alone doesn’t equate to visibility.
For readers seeking a deeper explanation of how Heat Index works and why it’s central to Chinese livestreaming dynamics, we recommend this overview.
Bilibili stands out with its roots in ACG (anime, comics, and games) culture, drawing a younger, highly engaged audience that values creativity and narrative depth. Unlike platforms centered around pure competition, Bilibili’s gaming streams often emphasize atmosphere, story, and visual identity. The platform thrives on titles that blur the line between game and art, attracting fans who care as much about character design and world-building as they do about mechanics.
CC163, while smaller, leads in nostalgia-heavy and domestic IP-driven titles (classic MMORPGs, fantasy-based games), attracting a loyal, older gaming audience primarily interested in China‑centric fantasy and traditional MMO experiences.
H1 2025 trends: What viewers watched where
Note: Heat Index values aren’t standardized across platforms: each service applies its own methodology when calculating them. As a result, meaningful comparisons can only be made within a single platform, not across different ones.
DouYu
On DouYu, viewers gravitated toward high-intensity, globally recognized esports titles. League of Legends and Honor of Kings stood out at the top, each commanding massive Heat Index values, proving genre dominance in multiplayer competitive gaming. PUBG Mobile and tactical shooters like Delta Force and Valorant also featured prominently. Even classics like World of Jade Dynasty, Dota 2, and World of Warcraft held their place, showing enduring interest in older MMOs and strategic titles.
This mix suggests DouYu viewers were drawn to high-energy, competitive formats, especially mobile-powered MOBAs and action-heavy esports streams.
Huya
Huya mirrored DouYu’s headline gaming tastes, with Honor of Kings leading by a wide margin, followed by League of Legends. But its emphasis slightly leans toward pro-level esports event coverage. Titles like Counter‑Strike, PUBG: Battlegrounds, and Valorant rank highly. Even CrossFire, a veteran in China’s FPS ecosystem, features among the top 10.
Bilibili
On Bilibili, the spotlight shines on younger, ACG-loving audiences. Honkai: Star Rail, Zenless Zone Zero, and Wuthering Waves top the list, each connected to immersive story worlds and seasonal monetization models. Genshin Impact also makes a strong showing, alongside hybrid platform titles like CS:GO and Arknights. The pPresence of Identity V, Valorant, and LoL further highlights cross-over interest in both competitive and narrative-driven gameplay.
CC163
CC163’s audience is anchored in classic domestic and fantasy franchises. Fantasy Westward Journey and its sequel dominate its Heat Index chart, followed by titles rooted in Chinese mythology: A Chinese Ghost Story, Spider Queen Cave, and Justice Online. Even Naraka: Bladepoint, a modern battle royale, features on a roster that skews toward familiar Chinese IPs, which suggests a viewer base that values narrative-rich and culturally resonant gaming.
China’s livestreaming ecosystem doesn’t follow global patterns but sets its own. With platforms tailored to distinct viewer communities and a Heat Index system that captures more than just raw viewership, understanding what resonates in this market requires going beyond surface-level metrics.
Whether it’s esports-driven broadcasts on Huya, fantasy nostalgia on CC163, or narrative-rich journeys on Bilibili, each platform tells a different story about what Chinese gamers value. And with tools like DoHuya, those stories are finally measurable.