China Joy opens in Shanghai, presenting games for Generation ZPeople's Daily 2021-08-10
Asia's biggest annual game event China Joy opened in Shanghai on Friday.
Formally known as China Digital Entertainment Expo and Conference, China Joy covers gaming, cartoons, animation, online films, music, online literature, and related areas.
(Photos provided to the People's Daily)
It features innovations in eSports, live-streaming, virtual characters, 5G and cloud games.
The total sales of China’s gaming industry increased by 7.89 percent year-on-year to reach 150.5 billion yuan ($23.3 billion) during the first six months of 2021, a report released by the expo said.
In the meantime, the number of game players topped 666 million, up 1.38 percent year-on-year at the end of June.
Drawn by such a big market, over 500 exhibitors are taking part in China Joy, including giants in the industry like Tencent, Huawei, Perfect World, Qualcomm, Sony and China Mobile.
Companies like Perfect World are taking multiple steps to make market-oriented and technology-oriented advances to produce trending cultural products that cater to the interests of Chinese young people, known as Generation Z.
“Digitization of businesses is not only technological but also essential to content, IP (Intellectual Property) and different scenarios. What we do is to connect with the consumers of Generation Z to relate to them with unique values,” said Dr. Robert H. Xiao, CEO of Perfect World in a keynote speech on Thursday.
Dr. Robert H. Xiao (Photo provided to the People's Daily)
“Traditional Chinese culture has always been a source of inspiration for Perfect World. We created ‘Unruly Heroes’ and other internationally famous intellectual properties that come from classic Chinese novels like ‘Journey to the West,’ and we will join hands with excellent artists in China to build a new eco system for China’s original animation,” said Xiao.
Perfect World has enriched the cultural content of its products. Sichuan embroidery, oil-paper umbrellas, Peking opera and many traditional cultural items are embedded in its mobile games. The company is also actively trying to connect with tourism industries to create immersive traveling experiences for visitors.
This July, in Nianhua Bay in Wuxi, where buildings were rebuilt in ancient styles from the Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty, the company has combined virtual reality and augmented reality technologies with the scenic spot’s traditional style to upgrade the site into a large space for immersive games.
Xiao said in the future, the company will keep empowering traditional industries with technologies to present more boutique products, and progress actively to win the younger generation.
Perfect World has been actively exploring new products in various aspects that cater to Generation Z. Perfect World’s product portfolio now includes such genres as MMORPG, APPG, card games, and sandbox games that involve subjects such as anime futuristic sci-fi, anime fantasy, and oriental swordsmanship. The company has presented four new games since the beginning of 2021.
