With the 23rd China Digital Entertainment Expo & Conference (ChinaJoy) 2026 set to begin on July 31, the ChinaJoy Organizing Committee held a press conference on the 24th to announce key changes and preparations for this year's event.

Ahead of the main announcements, the committee emphasized, "Under the theme 'Level Up with AI,' ChinaJoy 2026 will be held at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre from July 31 to August 3. It will be an all-encompassing event featuring a diverse game lineup, a cutting-edge AI technology ecosystem, and innovations across the entire digital entertainment industry."

Record-Breaking Scale: Over 1k Game Titles and Trendy Products to be Exhibited

This year's ChinaJoy boasts its largest scale ever, with a total exhibition area exceeding 140k square meters. To date, approximately 900 companies from 39 countries and regions have confirmed their participation, including 275 international firms. The BTOC Interactive Entertainment Hall for general visitors will span 120k square meters with booths from over 350 companies, while the BTOB Comprehensive Business Hall will cover 25k square meters, hosting over 500 companies (46.6% of which are international).

On-site, more than 500 game companies and development teams—including Tencent, NetEase, Blizzard Entertainment, Century Huatong, and PlayStation—will showcase over 1k playable game demos. A large-scale Indie Game Demo Zone will be featured, and over 600 games have been registered for the concurrent Steam Online Festival. Beyond gaming, the exhibition floor will be packed with over 1k trendy tech and cultural products, including Qualcomm’s Snapdragon theme pavilion, humanoid robot technology from Unitree Robotics and LimX Dynamics, imaging pavilions from Sony and Nikon, BYD’s smart cockpit new energy vehicles, and pop culture collectibles from Hot Toys and Moshow Toys.

ChinaJoy Focuses on Building Global Hub Partnerships

ChinaJoy 2026 is cementing its status as a global hub, with companies from over 30 countries and regions gathering and an expected 10k international business visitors. Large exhibition delegations from South Korea, Russia, Spain, Poland, the Philippines, Japan, and Hong Kong, China, will occupy a combined space of 900 square meters.

Cross-industry partnerships are also a highlight. In celebration of the Year of the Dragon (2026), a strategic partnership has been signed with the Chongqing Xubeihong Art Museum to showcase the fusion of classic IP and digital technology. A dedicated '2026 ChinaJoy Game Show' page has been launched on Steam and Steam China to bridge offline and online experiences. Furthermore, the event features strong alliances with major platforms: Douyin Live’s pan-voice streamer competition, exclusive digital collectible acquisition via Alipay’s 'Alipay Tap!', the Taobao & Tmall online 'Cloud Expo' pavilion, Kuaishou’s large-scale cosplay challenge livestream, and a youth-targeted beauty carnival IP collaboration with JD Beauty.

A Collection of Conferences Covering the Pulse of Various Industries, from AI to Gaming

The '2026 ChinaJoy Conference Series' will host six major industry summits centered on the main theme of 'AI-Driven Digital Content Production,' providing a venue for industry exchange. The sessions will delve into the future strategies of the gaming industry, the integration of AI ecosystems, rapidly changing digital consumption scenarios, and global expansion strategies.

Notably, the newly established 'Digital Entertainment Consumption Scenario Summit' will reinterpret the connections between people, products, and spaces in offline entertainment venues, calling for a transition toward an integrated physical ecosystem that fuses hardware, content, and operations beyond simple online transactions. Another new forum, the 'ChinaJoy Short-Form Drama Innovation Forum,' will analyze how AI technology is evolving the short-form drama industry from a traffic-driven competition into a high-quality production environment, while exploring ways to produce global hits that transcend cultural and geographical barriers.

Smart Service Upgrades for a More Comfortable Exhibition Experience

Smart services have been significantly enhanced for the convenience of participating companies and visitors. The BTOB business matching system has been upgraded, and successful participants will be eligible to apply for business visitor passes. In particular, through a partnership with iFLYTEK, intelligent translation devices will be deployed throughout the BTOB area to provide real-time multilingual interpretation and transcription services, lowering language barriers for global business meetings.

To reduce on-site congestion and improve comfort, booth numbering systems and wayfinding signage have been optimized, and a self-service badge collection area has been added to streamline entry. General visitor traffic flow will also be adjusted flexibly in real-time. Entertainment elements have been strengthened through the 'CJ Arena' program, which includes official card collection and point campaigns, allowing visitors to team up and use points to enter raffles for limited-edition merchandise. Additionally, a collaboration with exoskeleton robot specialist ULS Robotics will offer visitors the chance to experience cutting-edge exoskeleton technology firsthand.

Super Early Bird Sales Start July 8 as ChinaJoy Prepares to Raise the Curtain

Ticket sales for ChinaJoy 2026 will begin in three phases starting July 8. 'Super Early Bird Tickets' go on sale on July 8 (Beijing Time, UTC+8), followed by 'Early Bird Tickets' on July 9, and general ticket sales on July 10.

Domestic visitors in China can pre-register one week in advance via official platforms such as Damai, the 'CJ魔方 (CJ Mofang)' WeChat mini-program, Bilibili Show, Alipay’s '蓝花火 (Lanhuahuo)', and Trip.com. International visitors can purchase tickets via the MaiSeat platform. Business visitor passes and conference passes are available through the 'CJ魔方' WeChat mini-program and the Huodongxing platform. Those who join the official CDEC conference group via WeChat before July 15 will receive free access to all CDEC conferences and forums.

ChinaJoy 2026 will be held from July 31 to August 3 at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre. Further information is available on the official website.