The "Golden Tea Award" Over the Past Twelve Years

Before we knew it, the “Golden Tea Awards” annual ceremony, hosted by Game Teahouse, has now been held for twelve consecutive years. Since January 2014, the “Golden Tea Awards” ceremony in January has become our company’s largest annual event—growing from an initial gathering of 100 people in Chengdu to the current event in Shanghai with 1,500 attendees.It has, in a sense, witnessed the entire development of China’s mobile gaming industry from its inception. Each year’s awards ceremony also serves as our media outlet’s summary of the Chinese gaming market over the past year; by reviewing our past awards and lists of winners, one can clearly see the changes in China’s gaming industry.

01

Background

（2013-2017）

Anyone familiar with Game Teahouse probably knows that our predecessor was “IT Teahouse.” In 2006, I returned to Chengdu from Shanghai. While working in Shanghai, I often attended various internet startup events on the weekends. At that time, the overall internet environment in Chengdu wasn’t very good,so I decided to use my spare time to launch a personal website called “IT Teahouse.” I started by organizing webmaster gatherings, which led to the first Sichuan Webmaster Conference in 2006. It was a purely grassroots gathering of webmasters; over 100 people attended in person to get to know one another and exchange ideas about entrepreneurship.Although it might have seemed like I organized it all by myself, many volunteers actually helped with the planning, and the overall atmosphere was excellent. This marked the beginning of an annual tradition, and the Sichuan internet community gradually took shape. However, I continued to organize these events rather casually in my spare time until 2009, when an executive from Tianfu Software Park approached me.At that time, smartphones were just beginning to take off, and the wave of mobile internet startups was gaining momentum. As a government-run park, Tianfu Software Park wanted to support mobile internet entrepreneurship, so they backed my effort to upgrade the conference to the Sichuan Internet Conference. The government provided funding and personnel, while I was responsible for organization and promotion. Just like that, the conference’s stature was elevated overnight.While planning the Sichuan Internet Conference, we discussed using an awards ceremony to encourage local internet entrepreneurs. The Chengdu High-Tech Zone had also specifically introduced policies to support mobile internet startups, and a number of outstanding mobile internet companies had emerged in Chengdu, with mobile gaming being the most prominent sector. Consequently, in September 2013, armed with angel investment, I officially established a company and launched “Game Teahouse,” a media platform dedicated to the gaming industry. I consider 2013 to be the inaugural year of China’s mobile gaming industry.

The first Golden Tea Award was actually still a regional award, building on the experience of the “Sichuan Internet Conference” awards. Its core purpose was to encourage local startup teams. At the time, there were many different awards, but they were all given to large companies in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, while game companies in Chengdu rarely received attention—even though some of them were actually doing very well.I recall that in 2012, App Annie released a list of the world’s top 52 mobile game companies, and only two Chinese companies made the cut—both of which were based in Chengdu. Therefore, we hoped that by holding this awards ceremony, we could raise awareness of these outstanding companies among a wider audience.Later, we began expanding the scope of the awards to the entire country, but we have remained true to our original mission of “discovering promising game companies and encouraging small and medium-sized startup teams.” Our annual list of winners always includes some lesser-known game products that are performing exceptionally well in specific niche markets.

02

Zhan Tuo

（2018- 2021 ）

In any case, at that time, the core of the mobile gaming industry was still centered in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. While Chengdu had its own unique strengths in game development, game publishing and distribution channels were also crucial. The previous editions of the Golden Tea Awards were all held in Chengdu, and attendance had consistently hovered around 300 people. In January 2019, we held the “Golden Tea Awards” in Guangzhou for the first time. At that time, user acquisition was all the rage, and everyone was flocking to Guangzhou to learn how to do it, causing the event’s attendance to surge to 1,000 people overnight. This experience strengthened our confidence in hosting events in cities with a higher concentration of the gaming industry.After hosting three consecutive editions in Guangzhou, the user acquisition market began to stabilize, and the industry shifted toward high-quality games. Consequently, we moved the “Golden Tea Awards” to Shanghai.

In January 2020, the pandemic broke out and Wuhan was “locked down,”Fortunately, that year’s Golden Tea Awards were held in early January, and nationwide “stay-at-home” measures didn’t begin until late January. This stroke of luck continued throughout the two years of the pandemic; despite frequent PCR testing and intermittent “quarantines,” several consecutive Golden Tea Awards were successfully held, albeit with some trepidation.The entire gaming industry also unexpectedly ushered in a new wave of investment starting with ByteDance’s announcement of a $4 billion acquisition of Shanghai Mooton. Major industry giants rushed to establish strategic investment departments, and a large number of small and medium-sized teams secured funding, marking a new spring for the gaming industry.

03

Refresh

（2022 – 2024）

In January 2023, pandemic restrictions were officially lifted, but with major companies suspending investments and ByteDance Games pulling out, the mobile gaming market has entered a phase of steady growth. Companies that had been overly aggressive in the early stages have begun cutting costs and improving efficiency, yet our “Game-Tea Matchmaking Event” and “Golden Tea Awards” have, in fact, resumed on an even larger scale as in-person events.We have found that there is always a need for developers to connect with publishers and for publishers to connect with developers in the gaming industry.

The August 20, 2024, release of *Black Myth: Wukong* completely ignited the domestic single-platform game market and, more importantly, shifted the government’s perception of the gaming industry.Games are now defined as a medium for the export of Chinese culture. A large number of overseas players have begun to learn about traditional Chinese culture through their enjoyment of *Black Myth: Wukong*, and the real-world locations captured in the game have also boosted the cultural and tourism industries in several regions.Local governments across the country have rushed to introduce policies to support the gaming industry. For the first time, the “Golden Tea Award” received support from the Shanghai Xuhui District Government, which provided us with venue space at the “Caoxi Development Zone”—a hub for Shanghai’s gaming companies—allowing the overall quality and scale of our Shanghai “Golden Tea Award” event to reach new heights.

The 2025 Golden Tea Awards will once again be held in Caohejing, Shanghai. This year, we’re continuing to expand the indie game segment by establishing a separate Indie Game Award. There will also be a hands-on demo area on-site. In addition to the traditional “Game-Tea” matchmaking sessions, there will be a dedicated investment and financing roadshow. China’s gaming industry has finally made a full recovery,with comprehensive growth across multiple platforms—including mobile, PC, consoles, handhelds, and mini-games—and an increasing number of Chinese games making their mark in overseas markets.

Finally, here are some examples of past award-winning works. We also welcome everyone to enter this year’s Golden Tea Award,

• 2014 Top 10 Emerging Domestic Companies

Sichuan Tian Shang You Jia Network (later acquired by Caesar Culture for 1.2 billion; founder He Xiaowei has since become the CEO of the publicly traded company)

• Top 10 Breakout Domestic Products of 2014

Daily Idle (Hangzhou Jue Di's first game; the company has since expanded into multiple fields, including SLG games and interactive film and gaming)

• Top 10 Emerging Game Companies Expanding Overseas in 2015

Guangzhou Yihuan Network (later acquired by Baotong Technology, becoming a major source of profit growth for the publicly traded company)

• Top 10 Emerging Mobile Game Distributors of 2015

Yeahmobi (Successfully listed on the ChiNext board on December 11, 2024, with a market capitalization of 14.7 billion)

• Top 10 Emerging Domestic Game Companies of 2015

Xiamen Qingci Digital (which later released the hit series *The Strongest Snail* and went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange)

• Top 10 Emerging Mobile Game Service Providers of 2015

Hangzhou Skye Network (listed on the U.S. stock market; later invested in Mihoyo and became its sole external shareholder)

• The Most Anticipated Mobile Games of 2016

"Shadow Blade 2" (developed by Beijing Lingyoufang; its sequel, "Shadow Blade Zero," is one of the most anticipated Chinese AAA titles of next year)

• Best Independent Game of 2016

Yesterday – indienova (China's indie game scene is just beginning to take shape)

• Best Board and Card Game Company of 2017

Weile Games (its parent company, Hometown Interactive, was listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2019)

• 2017's Most Promising Domestic Game Companies

Suzhou Haowan You (later renamed “Friendship Times,” which went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2019)

• Best Indie Game of 2017

Genki Knight (A phenomenon in the Chinese indie gaming scene, with over 10 million users and revenue exceeding 10 million)

• Best Mobile Esports Game of 2017

Red Tide: The Art of War (Game Science's second game; the studio later developed *Black Myth: Wukong* and began focusing on single-player games)

• Best Game Export Companies of 2018

Longchuang Yuedong (Focuses on overseas SLG games; later invested in Jiangyu Interactive)

• The Most Anticipated Mobile Games of 2019

The Fifth Great Invention (later renamed "Jiangmu"; the company was subsequently acquired by Alibaba International Investment Holdings)

• Most Promising Game Companies of 2019

Lanfei Interactive Entertainment (Focused on the WeChat Mini Games ecosystem, consistently releasing hit titles such as "Eliminate the Virus" and "Catch the Goose")

• Best Mobile Game Publisher of 2019

Diedie Network (which later developed *Infinite Warm Warm* and *Love & Deep Space*)

• Best PC Games of 2020

Party Animals (Global sales of nearly 4 million copies)

• The Most Anticipated Games of 2021

Warm Snow (With 3 million copies sold across all platforms, it has become a phenomenon among Chinese indie games)

• Best Casual Games for the Global Market in 2022

Call Me the Head Manager (The game has generated over $212 million in global revenue and opened up new overseas markets for this genre)

• The Most Anticipated Games of 2023

"Sixteen Sounds of Yan Yun" (Becoming NetEase's New Evergreen Game)

• Best PC Games of 2023

BlazBlue: Chaos Effect (1 million copies sold across all platforms; a prime example of a mobile game team transitioning to PC game development)

• 2024 Outstanding Global Game Companies

Dot Dot Interactive (A Phenomenal SLG Game Pioneering a New Style of Casual + Strategy Gaming)

• Best PC Games of 2024

Soul Face Mask (Global sales have exceeded 700,000 units, with a particularly high proportion coming from overseas markets)

…….

We look forward to having you join us.