How to Publish on WeChat & Douyin Mini Games (2026)
China's Mini Games market did roughly $7.65 billion in 2025, up about 34% year over year, and forecasts put it near $20 billion by 2030. Two platforms take more than 90% of that: WeChat Mini Games and Douyin Mini Games. If you've built a game and you want a shot at that market, this is the pipeline you actually have to walk. It's less about the game and more about licensing, a local partner, and picking the right platform.
If you haven't chosen an engine yet, start with game engines for WeChat Mini Games. This guide assumes you have a build and asks how it gets published and paid for.
The license is the gate
Every game distributed in China, from AAA console titles down to a Mini Game running inside a chat app, exists under the same licensing regime. Two documents matter.
The software copyright (软著) is the easier one, a registration of authorship. The one that decides your business is the ISBN, or 版号 (banhao), the publishing license issued by the regulator. In practice, a Mini Game that takes in-app payments needs a banhao. An ad-only or free game has historically had a lighter path, but the rules tighten over time and the safe assumption is that any real monetization eventually needs the license.
Here's the part that stops most foreign studios cold: only an approved Chinese entity can hold the license and operate a monetized game. You cannot get a banhao as a foreign company. You publish through a licensed Chinese operator who holds the license, runs the payments, and takes a cut. This isn't a formality you can route around. It's the structure of the market.
The good news underneath it: China approved 1,771 games in 2025, the most since 2018, and the monthly cadence has been steady. The pipeline that used to freeze unpredictably is running predictably again, which makes planning around it possible in a way it wasn't a few years ago.
What a foreign studio actually does
The realistic sequence looks like this.
Find a Chinese publisher or operator. This is the load-bearing decision. They hold the license, handle the banhao application, integrate payments, and often help with cultural review and platform relationships. Their cut and their competence are the two things that make or break the deal.
Register the Mini Game account. A monetizing account needs a Chinese business entity behind it, which in practice is your publisher's, not yours.
Build against the platform. Package the game with the right engine and adapter, get under the initial-package limit, and wire in the platform's login, ad, and payment SDKs.
Submit for review. Every Mini Game goes through platform review before it's public, on top of the license. Content that's fine elsewhere can get flagged, so the earlier your publisher reviews it, the fewer surprises.
Launch and iterate. Both platforms reward live operations, events, and updates. A Mini Game is a service, not a one-time ship.
WeChat vs Douyin: two different machines
The big two are not interchangeable. They reach players in opposite ways, and that changes which games win on each.
WeChat Mini Games is the giant, around 500 to 570 million monthly players. Discovery runs on the social graph: friends sharing, group chats, the sense that everyone's already playing. Retention and word of mouth are the engine. WeChat's revenue share depends on the model. For in-game ads it's a 50/50 split. For in-app purchases the developer typically keeps about 60% and WeChat takes 40%, and titles published directly through WeChat can keep as much as 70%. WeChat rewards games people come back to and tell their friends about.
Douyin Mini Games is smaller, around 170 million monthly players, but it grew explosively, with revenue up roughly 100% and users up about 120% year over year in 2025. Discovery is the opposite of WeChat's: it's algorithmic, driven by short video. A clip of your game goes viral in the feed and sends a flood of players. Douyin also courts developers aggressively, letting some preferred partners keep as much as 90% of proceeds, and its Ohayoo label helps publish and monetize hyper-casual titles. Douyin rewards games that look irresistible in a five-second video.
The practical read: a retention-driven, socially shareable game leans WeChat. A hyper-casual game with a killer visual hook leans Douyin. Many studios ship to both, because the license and the build carry over and the audiences barely overlap.
The revenue-share picture, briefly
| Platform | In-game ads | In-app purchases | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| ~50/50 | Developer keeps ~60% (up to 70% direct) | Social discovery, huge reach, retention-driven | |
| Douyin | Favorable, negotiated | Preferred partners up to ~90% | Algorithmic video discovery, aggressive dev terms, Ohayoo for hyper-casual |
Numbers shift with promotions and partner status, so treat these as the shape of the deal, not a contract. Your publisher's cut sits on top of the platform's, which is why choosing the right operator matters as much as choosing the right platform.
Where Cinevva fits
Cinevva doesn't publish your game to WeChat or Douyin for you, and we won't pretend the licensing layer is smaller than it is. A local publisher and a banhao are real costs of entering China. What Cinevva gives you is the cheapest possible way to find out whether a game is worth that effort: build it as a browser game in minutes, put it in front of players, and see if it has the hook that survives a Douyin clip or the loop that earns a WeChat re-open. Prove the game on the open web first. Take the ones that work through the China pipeline second.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need an ISBN (banhao) to publish a Mini Game in China?
If the game takes in-app payments, effectively yes. Free or ad-only Mini Games have had a lighter path, but monetized games need the publishing license, and only an approved Chinese entity can hold it.
Can a foreign developer publish directly to WeChat Mini Games?
Not for a monetized game. Foreign studios publish through a licensed Chinese operator who holds the license, runs payments, and takes a share. Finding the right local publisher is the key decision.
Which pays better, WeChat or Douyin?
It depends on the model and your partner status. WeChat splits ads about 50/50 and lets developers keep roughly 60 to 70% of purchases. Douyin offers some preferred partners up to about 90%. Douyin's terms can be more generous, but WeChat's reach is far larger.
What's the difference between WeChat and Douyin Mini Games?
WeChat discovery is social, driven by sharing between friends and groups, and rewards retention. Douyin discovery is algorithmic, driven by short video, and rewards games that look great in a clip. WeChat is bigger, Douyin is growing faster.
How big is the China Mini Games market?
Around $7.65 billion in 2025, up about 34% year over year, with forecasts near $20 billion by 2030. WeChat and Douyin together account for more than 90% of it.
Build a browser version in minutes and test the hook before committing to a China launch.
Related
- Game Engines for WeChat Mini Games — pick the engine before you publish
- China Mini-Game & HTML5 Platforms Compared — beyond the big two
- Localizing a Web Game for China — fonts, hosting, payments, and the Firewall
- Best Places to Publish a Web Game — the Western distribution field
- How to Promote an Indie Game With No Budget — build the audience that makes a launch land