SHANGHAI, Aug. 1 -- Sales revenue of China's games industry increased to 114 billion yuan (about 16.5 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half of this year, up 8.6 percent year on year, according to an industry report.

The report was released Thursday in Shanghai, one day before the upcoming 2019 China Digital Entertainment Expo and Conference (ChinaJoy).

From January to June, the number of game players in China exceeded 640 million, increasing by 5.9 percent compared with the previous year, according to the report, representing a nearly 80-percent share of the country's online population.

Games independently developed by Chinese companies have achieved remarkable success in overseas markets, making 5.57 billion U.S. dollars in sales, a 20.2-percent year-on-year growth.

China's games industry saw an actual sales revenue of 214.4 billion yuan in 2018.

The 17th ChinaJoy will be held from Aug. 2 to 5 in Shanghai. It will bring together nearly 300 global digital entertainment enterprises, as well as products and new technologies. An e-sports competition will also be held at the expo.