Report: China is now the global leader in video game revenues

Heads up, game devs: China's booming games market has now overtaken the U.S. (at least, in market research firm Newzoo's estimation) to become the world's biggest source of video game revenue.

That's according to Newzoo's latest Global Games Report, and it's a notable (if long-predicted) shift for game developers who have come to appreciate China's massive playerbase and capacity to drive game installs.

According to Newzoo's report, which is based on data gathered from a variety of sources (including public company earnings reports and third-party research), China is now generating $24.4 billion in video game revenues, compared to the U.S.'s $23.6 billion.

Though it's unclear in the report itself, Newzoo tells Gamasutra that those figures are estimates for full-year 2016, from January through December.

It's also worth pointing out that according to Newzoo, China's lead over the U.S. in terms of online population vastly outstrips its lead in terms of revenue, suggesting the country may still have lots of room to grow as more people play (and pay for) video games.

To examine these and other findings from Newzoo for yourself, you can peruse the free version of the company's latest Global Games Report.