Domestic developers add twist to global gaming

GUANGZHOU — Buoyed by the international success of China's first 3A video game Black Myth: Wukong, domestic game developers are ramping up the global push of their productions, adding a Chinese twist to the worldwide gaming industry.

Before an audience of gamers from across the globe, Chinese game heavyweight TiMi Studio Group launched a charm offensive to pitch its open-world role-playing game Honor of Kings: World at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco in March.

Accompanied by the heavy beats of Chinese rap songs, attendees witnessed the game's debut and caught a glimpse of the rich Eastern cultural elements and epic narrative featured in this latest creation.

Apple CEO Tim Cook joined a play-test event in March for Wuthering Waves, an open-world RPG launched by Chinese unicorn enterprise Kuro Games. Impressed by the game's unique visuals, character motions, and designs, Cook praised its "incredibly immersive experiences" on his Weibo account.

Since its launch last year, Wuthering Waves has seen a solid performance in both domestic and international markets. So far, the game's global download has exceeded 50 million, claiming spots on bestselling charts in many countries and regions, including Singapore, South Korea and the Philippines.

According to Kuro Games, its fruitful global strategy is driven by cutting-edge technologies and inspired by China's rich heritage. The company collaborates with multiple hardware and chip manufacturers to provide gamers with high-quality experiences.

Thanks to its sophisticated industrial chain and digital infrastructure for game development in the province, Guangdong's game industry, which accounts for nearly 80 percent of China's total market share, has achieved a total revenue of over 188.6 billion yuan ($26 billion) overseas in the past five years.

To help game enterprises make inroads into overseas markets, Guangdong has streamlined the review, approval and operations process for new games, putting them on a global fast track.

Guangdong's international push of homegrown games epitomizes the rise of China's gaming industry overseas despite sluggish growth and heightened competition in the world gaming sector.

In the past five years, the total revenue of Chinese game developers in foreign markets has steadily increased above the 100-billion-yuan threshold annually, with a record high of $18.5 billion in 2024, up 13.39 percent year-on-year.

Citing an industry report, Zheng Nan, a member of the China Audio-video and Digital Publishing Association, says that by 2027, the overseas revenue of Chinese games will increase to approximately $39 billion, with the wider application of AI in game production, operation, and customer service.

The rosy prospects are further underpinned by China's unrelenting pursuit of high-level opening-up.

Recently, the State Council approved a work plan to accelerate the launch of comprehensive opening-up programs in the service sector on a trial basis that outlines its efforts to boost the global push for homegrown games and construct a complete industrial chain covering creation, game production, distribution and overseas operation.

Xinhua