en.Wedoany.com Reported - On June 13, the Huawei Developer Conference (HDC 2026) Game Services Forum was held in Songshan Lake, Dongguan. The forum brought together game developers, industry leaders, and ecosystem partners to discuss new ideas for the development of the game industry under the theme "HarmonyOS Ecosystem Drives New Growth in the Game Industry."
Ao Ran, Executive Vice President and Secretary-General of the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association, delivered a speech at the forum. Ao Ran stated that HarmonyOS, as a domestically developed operating system in China, has broken the boundaries of traditional game terminals through its distributed full-scenario architecture, the performance advantages of the Ark Engine, and AI-empowered innovation capabilities, providing a differentiated development path for the industry. He encouraged more game companies and independent developers to join the HarmonyOS ecosystem.
Zhang Yaoli, Chairman of Gamma Data, released the "HarmonyOS Game Ecosystem Development Report" at the forum. The report pointed out that the Chinese game market has entered a stage of deep cultivation of existing users, with the industry facing triple pressures: difficulty in acquiring users, high costs, and insufficient technical support. The difficulty in obtaining precise traffic was identified as the biggest pain point for business operations, and the market urgently needs a comprehensive platform offering full-chain services.
The report shows that the explosive growth of the HarmonyOS game ecosystem confirms industry demand. The number of HarmonyOS users has grown from 500,000 in 2023 to 66 million in 2026, an increase of over 120 times. Leveraging the synergy of software, hardware, chips, and cloud, along with full-scenario capabilities, HarmonyOS has improved pain points in game loading and cross-device continuous play. By offering one-stop services, it has reduced developers' research, operation, and user acquisition costs, driving the industry's transformation from "traffic-driven" to "service-driven." Zhang Yaoli believes that the HarmonyOS game ecosystem has become a definite new growth engine in the competitive environment of the domestic game market.
Jiang Zhili, General Manager of Huawei Game Center, reviewed the phased achievements of the HarmonyOS game ecosystem and outlined future directions. He stated that the HarmonyOS ecosystem is entering a golden window period of rapid expansion, with the ecosystem scale continuing to grow explosively. To date, over 30,000 HarmonyOS games have been launched. Huawei Game Center is transforming from a content distribution platform to a comprehensive service provider, moving beyond the single role of traditional channel distribution. It is building a full-chain service system covering traffic support, technical adaptation, monetization operations, and creative incubation, reducing burdens and increasing efficiency for developers. Relying on the HarmonyOS ecosystem foundation, it supports the growth of game products and industry development.
The mini-game track has become an important growth point for the game industry. As the mini-game service engine is embedded into the underlying HarmonyOS system, mini-games can be integrated into content scenarios such as short dramas and novels, achieving an innovative distribution model of "everything can be a game," which is expected to bring tens of billions of incremental space. Huawei Game Center announced an upgrade to its game support policies, continuously increasing support around key areas such as initial launches, overseas expansion, and user acquisition, helping developers achieve scaled growth.
With the help of full-scenario distribution, content upgrades, and one-stop full-chain services, multiple cooperative games have achieved operational results. Several manufacturers shared their experiences of deep cooperation with HarmonyOS at the forum, covering various types such as sports competitions, post-apocalyptic survival, film-game tie-ins, and mini-games, validating the diversified growth paths of the HarmonyOS ecosystem.
"Best Football Club" is adapted for multiple HarmonyOS devices including phones, tablets, smart screens, and car systems. Leveraging features like near-field fast transfer and tap-to-team, it breaks through the user base of a single terminal. The growth of HarmonyOS devices has driven a leap in game revenue. Faced with rising user acquisition costs, "Arcade Dinosaur" achieved content breakout through film-game tie-ins with Huawei Game Center. The total playback of the game IP-customized short drama across all channels exceeded 100 million times, driving a 243% increase in game revenue, with long-term revenue remaining stable for several consecutive months. "Three Kingdoms: Ice Age" revitalized its existing game through the HarmonyOS large-scale joint operation system. After a slowdown in growth one year after launch, it reignited its growth curve through joint operations. In the first quarter of 2026 compared to the fourth quarter of 2025, total new users across three terminals increased by 72.6%. For the mini-game "Survive 33 Days," the login rate and new registrations did not meet expectations during the initial launch. After fully integrating HarmonyOS mini-game capabilities, it achieved low-cost user acquisition through tools such as table re-visits, event tasks, and first-frame image optimization, resulting in a 387% increase in new registrations and a 392% increase in revenue.
As the HarmonyOS game ecosystem expands in scale and its commercial loop improves, Huawei Game Center is evolving from a traditional game distribution platform into a comprehensive game community connecting developers, content, and players. This platform will play a greater role in game discovery, content consumption, user operations, and business growth, becoming an important battleground for game companies to make long-term deployments in the HarmonyOS ecosystem.
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