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ChinaJoy标志着游戏行业迈入全新的人工智能时代 - 2026年08月03日
ChinaJoy signals a new AI era for gaming industry
This year's China Digital Entertainment Expo and Conference, better known as ChinaJoy, may be the most artificial intelligence-focused edition in the event's 23-year history. Reflecting that, the organizers selected "Journey with AI" as 2026’s theme, signaling how deeply AI has become intertwined with the future of gaming and digital entertainment.
“If an exhibitor doesn't mention AI agents or generative AI, it risks looking out of touch with the times,” Man Xinru, head of Asia-Pacific marketing at mobile app optimization marketing and retargeting platform Liftoff, told Yicai at ChinaJoy.
She added that many exhibitors' promotional posters this year were themselves created using AI. Indeed, from giant posters at entrances to the venue to keynote speeches and product launches, AI is nearly everywhere at the six-day event, which wraps up in Shanghai today. Even chip, hardware, and robot manufacturers have booths.
For Wang Ji, chairman of internet games developer Century Huatong Group, the most immediate impression of this year's event is that “AI has penetrated every aspect of the industry.” At the expo, discussions about AI among Chinese game companies have moved beyond that of simply buying tools and accessing models.
Shanghai-based Century Huatong is now focused on using AI to reshape capabilities, transforming employees from mere executors into creators, Wang pointed out.
About 86 percent of Chinese game developers are now using AI technologies, according to figures released at ChinaJoy by Sun Shoushan, chairman of the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association. More than 10,000 games listed on Steam note the use of AI, accounting for more than 8 percent of all titles on the leading digital distribution platform.
AI is no longer just an optional enhancement for Chinese gaming businesses, but a normal layer of infrastructure supporting the entire industry, Sun said.
Chinese developers have long been known for their efficiency and tend to be early adopters of new technologies, said Casie Jordan, senior vice president of programmatic and commercial solutions at Liftoff. As a result, AI tools have been rolled out faster in China than in many other markets, he noted.
Century Huatong's investments in AI-related assets over the past several years have laid the groundwork for its future in the gaming industry, Wang said.
He cited the company’s investments in Moore Threads Technology, which develops graphics processing units, AI infrastructure startup Wuwenxinqiong, and Flexiv Robotics, saying that to outsiders this may seem like unrelated diversification, but these firms will form the core infrastructure for the future digital entertainment sector.
AI Content Deluge
The gaming sector has reached a stage where excelling in a single technical field is not enough, with comprehensive capabilities growing increasingly important, according to Yu Ruichao, VP and editor-in-chief of Tencent Interactive Entertainment.
But some industry insiders worry that as production tools become more powerful and creative efficiency rises, novel products may end up drowned out by a flood of mediocre titles. The number of playable games added to gaming platform TapTap surged almost 10 times to 5,002 in the first half from a year ago, more than 4,000 of which were mini-games created with the help of AI.
TapTap founder Huang Yimeng described this as a "blessing and a curse" for the industry. As the player base has not expanded in tandem with the surging number of games, the exposure and download numbers for individual titles have been severely diluted, Huang stressed.
AI has lowered barriers to game-making, Liu Yi, VP of publishing at Kingsoft World Games, told Yicai, adding that from the user's perspective, this means encountering a greater number of products with lackluster quality.
Game development will likely polarize in the future, Liu said. Alongside a small number of high-quality titles, there will be a vast array of "fast-consumption" games built using AI, mirroring the growth trajectory of the short-video industry, Liu pointed out.
AI could unlock CNY53.3 billion to CNY84.6 billion (USD7.4 billion to USD11.7 billion) in new market opportunities for the Chinese gaming sector, driven by emerging formats and a continuous supply of new content, according to a report released by Gamma Data at ChinaJoy.
Profits from game operations at Chinese companies are expected to soar to CNY162.7 billion (USD22.5 billion) by 2030 from about CNY111.4 billion this year, the report said. Improved operational efficiency will mainly stem from AI-driven research and development gains, optimized operations, and better resource allocation, it said.
Source: Yicai Global
