Chinese video gaming companies are doubling down on artificial intelligence to enhance their titles and explore new growth opportunities, driven by rapid advances in AI models, according to executives at ChinaJoy – the country’s largest annual digital entertainment expo.
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The four-day event in Shanghai drew a surge of AI companies eager to forge or deepen partnerships with local studios focused on adopting AI-driven technologies.
Huawei Technologies, the Shenzhen-based telecommunications equipment giant, took centre stage with a large booth showcasing the HarmonyOS operating system, its Android alternative that is gaining traction among Chinese game developers.
More than 6,500 games have launched on HarmonyOS so far, including popular titles like Anipop and Subway Surfers. Huawei said its AI agent Xiaoyi, also known as Celia, enhanced the mobile gaming experience by blocking calls and messages and answering player questions in real time.
In the first half of this year, sales in China’s video gaming market rose 14 per cent from a year earlier to a record high of 168 billion yuan (US$23.4 billion), according to a report from the Gaming Publishing Committee of the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association.
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That growth rate outpaced the 2 per cent increase seen during the same period last year, fuelled by increased government support and the industry’s accelerated adoption of AI technologies, the group said.
