SHENZHEN, Dec. 21 -- The number of electronic sports (e-sports) users in China reached 488 million in 2023, up 0.1 percent compared to the previous year, according to an industry report released in south China's Shenzhen on Wednesday.

The actual revenue of the e-sports industry reached 26.35 billion yuan (around 3.71 billion U.S. dollars) in 2023, down 1.31 percent year on year, as reported by the Electronic Sports Committee of China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association.

In the breakdown of revenue sources, e-sports content live streaming claimed the largest share at 80.87 percent, while event revenue and club revenue accounted for 8.59 percent and 6.42 percent, respectively.

Among the major e-sports game categories, shooting games took the lead with 28 percent, followed by multiplayer online tactical competitive games at 15.9 percent and sports-based competitive games at 12.2 percent.

In 2023, the number of non-exhibition e-sports events featuring provincial-level and professional players saw a year-on-year increase, totaling 127 events, among which Shanghai, Beijing and Hangzhou hosted the most offline e-sports events.

The report also indicates that China's e-sports industry has continued to expand globally this year, especially in Southeast Asia. Some events have become popular local e-sports competitions in countries like Indonesia and the Philippines.