HONG KONG, July 27 (Reuters) - China's video game player has grown to a record of 668 million, a government-run game industry association said on Thursday, as the world's biggest gaming market returns to growth after a bruising crackdown. "Against the backdrop of a sluggish global gaming market, China's gaming industry is gradually emerging from a trough and showing an upward trend," Zhang Yijun, a director at the CGIGC, told the conference. The crackdown wiped out significant revenue and market value for many domestic gaming giants including Tencent Holdings (0700.HK) and NetEase (9999.HK). However, gaming revenue has yet to return to a pre-crackdown level. "We remain confident about a steady domestic game approval process heading into (the second half of this year)," Yap wrote.

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Persons: Zhang Yijun, ”, Alicia Yap, Yap, Josh Ye, Christian Schmollinger, Robert Birsel Organizations: Industry, Tencent Holdings, HK, Regulators, Citi Bank, Securities, Thomson Locations: HONG KONG, Shanghai, Hong Kong