Chinese Trading Card Companies in H1 2026: Expanding Categories, Competing for IPs, and Speeding Up

At last week's Bilibili World 2026 exhibition, KAYOU's first original trendy collectible IP "Hari & Hacci" made its debut to audiences, showcasing new products such as vinyl figures and plush toys. The brand's dedicated trendy collectible line "OYYO" was also unveiled alongside the IP.

Hari & Hacci centers on the concepts of emotional comfort and companionship, created by artist MengMei. It first launched in 2023, and its official Xiaohongshu account @Hari & Hacci's Hut now has over 10,000 followers. After signing a partnership agreement, KAYOU rapidly developed a full product line for the IP. Its debut "Colorful Party Stars" series has been officially released, available both on the KAYOU App and the KAYOU Trendy Collectibles Go mini-program.

KAYOU's first original trendy collectible IP and the "KAYOU Trendy Collectibles Go" platform

The KAYOU Trendy Collectibles Go platform currently features dedicated sections for multiple niche brands, including "Katter" (miniature figures), "K-Frame" (statues and 3D photo frames), and "K-Prize" (KAYOU Lucky Draw).

KAYOU Trendy Collectibles' Katter, K-Frame, and K-Prize product lines

Wenchao Trends observes that KAYOU is evolving from a pure "trading card" company into a "pan-entertainment products" enterprise — in fact, KAYOU positions itself as "one of the most influential brands in China's pan-entertainment products industry," with its trading card products being the most widely recognized. This transformation by KAYOU is representative of broader shifts across the entire trading card sector.

For example, in the full-cycle 618 sales rankings for Douyin Mall last month, Hitcard ranked 3rd in the trading card brand category and 9th in the model kit and peripheral merchandise category. For collectors and users, Hitcard is renowned for its film and television themed cards, while also offering a diverse range of products based on other IPs across multiple categories.

Selected new recent releases from Hitcard

Behind the category expansion by trading card companies lies the industry and individual enterprises entering a new stage of development, alongside intensifying market competition in the traditional collectible trading card segment.

Over the past year, companies including Soulfire, Bujue Toys, Jika Club, Wuliu, Youka Prize, and Kaxi have all secured financing. Teams and investors naturally hold higher expectations for these brands than in previous years, while publicly listed enterprises such as Guangbo and Ruyi have accelerated their entry into the sector. This has brought unprecedented capital and resource support to the industry, but it has also created intense pressure — leading to scenarios where multiple brands compete for a single popular IP and launch directly competing products. For instance, in June, both KAYOU and Wuliu released new animated collectible card series timed to the resumption of the *A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality* seasonal anime.

It is foreseeable that competition among Chinese trading card companies for popular IPs will continue for a considerable period of time.

At the same time, some entrepreneurial teams have quietly opened new battlefields in other sectors.

For example, MANYC has been continuously deepening its overseas market layout, actively participating in various regional industry exhibitions and exchange events. In the first half of the year, MANYC made appearances at well-known Southeast Asian exhibitions including TAGCC and the Hanoi International Trendy Toy Show, showcasing products based on IPs such as *Onmyoji: The Card Game*, *The King's Avatar*, *Lord of Mysteries*, *Jujutsu Kaisen*, *Spy x Family*, *Haikyuu!!*, *Solo Leveling*, and *Little Dragon*. In addition, its collectible trading card series developed around the two hit games *Mobile Legends: Bang Bang* and *Free Fire* have received enthusiastic responses from international fans.

MANYC participating in exhibitions across Southeast Asia

Next, Wenchao Trends will interpret the ongoing transformations in the trading card sector, based on developments from selected enterprises in the first half of 2026.

Category Expansion: Beyond Trading Cards, Building a Composite Ecosystem

In 2026, leading brands from KAYOU to Soulfire and Jika Club have all accelerated their shift toward a composite "trading card + merchandise/trendy collectibles" business model.

Let's start with KAYOU. According to statistics, in the first quarter of 2026, only 1 out of every 4 new products released by KAYOU was a traditional trading card. Beyond trading cards, 45 other product categories — including gel pens, badges, stationery notebooks, plush toys, acrylic stands, eraser figures, and photo cards — accounted for the vast majority of its new releases.

Among these, the stationery line has quietly become KAYOU's second largest business segment. At the recently concluded Bilibili World exhibition, KAYOU set up a "Stationery Palace" pavilion, showcasing its stylish and practical creative stationery products. The brand aims to bring these "practical merchandise" items into classrooms and offices, fully integrating into consumers' daily lives.

KAYOU's "Stationery Palace" exhibition pavilion

Wenchao Trends has learned that out of KAYOU's approximately 5 billion RMB revenue in 2025, non-trading card products contributed nearly half, with stationery becoming its second product category to exceed 1 billion RMB in annual revenue.

In 2026, KAYOU has increased its investment in the stationery and trendy collectibles sectors. For example, its stationery products have consecutively won top international honors including the Japanese Stationery Shop Awards, German iF Design Award, and Red Dot Design Award, driving further growth in related revenue.

In terms of original IPs, KAYOU's self-developed *KAYOU Three Kingdoms* IP celebrated its 3rd anniversary in June this year, while another original IP, *KAYOU Journey to the West*, is scheduled to make its official debut at the end of 2026.

For licensed IPs, KAYOU is advancing on two fronts: it has secured partnerships with the FIFA World Cup and *K-Pop: Demon Hunters* overseas, while domestically adding collaborative tie-ins with game IPs such as *Plants vs. Zombies*, *Delta Ops*, *Honor of Kings*, and *Supernatural Task Force*.

Additionally, KAYOU's Artist series targeting the mid-to-high-end market has collaborated with Malaysian artist Zeen Chin to develop the LUCKY BOOM product line, which is restricted to purchasers aged 18 and above. Three products have already been announced, including the "Artist Collectible Card Bundle."

We observe that nearly all of KAYOU's new trading card releases are enhancing their collectible value — for example, the 4th installment of the *Nezha: The Devil's Birth* "Fight the Heavens" series includes two limited-edition cards, numbered 154 and 2026 respectively. KAYOU's increased focus on TCG products for hardcore players is also noteworthy, which we will elaborate on in later sections.

Overall, KAYOU is extending its brand reach across all age groups and mass consumer scenarios, reshaping public perception of its brand boundaries.

Soulfire has undergone similarly significant structural adjustments. According to media statistics, out of Soulfire's 69 SKUs released between 2025 and May 2026, 38 were trading cards (accounting for 55.1%), while 31 were non-trading card products (44.9%). Although trading cards remain the largest single product category, non-trading card items now make up nearly half of its offerings, including badges, bundled peripheral sets, gift boxes, acrylic stands, art prints, keychains, and trading card accessories.

Another major change at Soulfire is the explosive growth in new product launches: the number of SKUs released in the first 5 months of 2026 is 4.5 times that of the same period last year.

In terms of IP strategy, Soulfire has firmly targeted the most popular domestic game IPs — ranging from *Onmyoji*, *Justice Online*, and *Zenless Zone Zero* to *Ruan Ruan*, *Arena Breakout*, and *Paper Dolls*. Almost all of its collaborative partners are top domestic games with massive young fan bases. By combining "collectible cards + full series of peripherals," Soulfire converts the online popularity of these IPs into real-world purchasing power, achieving extremely high penetration within their target fan communities.

At the same time, Soulfire's marketing and user outreach strategies prioritize fan-focused "light peripherals" and pop-up experience events. For example, its diverse derivative products themed around *Identity V* — including perfume bottles, art prints, laser tickets, badges, and acrylic stands — as well as themed pop-ups and art exhibitions for *Ruan Ruan* and *Paper Dolls* held in multiple cities, are all designed to create immersive emotional consumption scenarios for fans.

Overall, Soulfire's activities in the first half of the year resemble a "land grab" focused on deep engagement with domestic anime and game IPs. Soulfire's core advantage comes from its "Yaoji Group" industry background — the Yaoji Technology Group, formerly known as Yaoji Playing Cards, provides it with exceptional supply chain and distribution capabilities.

However, uncertainties still remain for Soulfire's future development.

On June 12, Aoda Holdings, with Yao Shoubin serving as its board chairman, released an announcement stating that the company will continue to prioritize its core electrical and mechanical engineering business. This announcement was in part a response to earlier market speculation that Soulfire and Yaoji Trendy Collectibles (one of the simplified Chinese distributors for Pokémon) would be injected into the company, which had driven its stock price to double in May. Aoda Holdings emphasized that preparatory work for launching IP-related businesses is still in its very early stages and may not come to fruition.

Wanhua Yunyou, a subsidiary of Modian, has even ventured into the BJD doll market, announcing in June a project to develop articulated BJD figures based on the *The God of War* animated series. Prior to this, it had already collaborated on multiple hit domestic animated IPs, including *The God of War*, *Cangyuan Tu*, *Sword Snow Strider*, and *Beyond the Light*.

Jika Club, under Jason Entertainment, is also rapidly expanding its IP value boundaries.

In 2025, Jason Entertainment Chairman Lin Jun set out the corporate vision of "becoming China's Bandai," later refining it to "Bandai + Animate + Pokémon." By the spring new product launch event in April 2026, he unveiled a brand new vision: to build a world-class entertainment group.

Today, Jika Club / Jason Entertainment has expanded its product portfolio to include trading cards, soft peripherals, mini figurines, board games, trendy collectibles, and lifestyle stationery, systematically constructing a comprehensive product matrix with dedicated sub-brands such as Senhegu and Trendy Collectible Molecules. Backed by shareholders including Bilibili and Disney, the company has strengthened its advantages in IP resource integration.

According to statistics, from January 2025 to June 2026, Jika Club launched 388 SKUs covering 97 IPs and 108 original product categories. Among these, 109 SKUs were trading cards (accounting for 28.1%). While trading cards remain the largest single product category, the subsequent categories of badges, stationery, fun cards, laser tickets, keychains, and acrylic stands have collectively formed a diverse, thriving product ecosystem. On a quarterly basis, the proportion of trading card SKUs has steadily declined from 42.9% to just 15.5%.

Wenchao Trends observes that Jika Club / Jason Entertainment is not only expanding its product categories internally, but also investing in multiple startup teams externally — for example, investing in FUN4YEAH founded by Wang Haifeng, former head of Bilibili's bilibiliGoods division, and establishing a joint venture Shanghai Kele Animation with Pei Yu, who previously managed *Shanke of the Abyss* IP derivatives and licensing operations.