ChinaJoy 2025: Tencent, Huawei and smaller studios leverage AI to boost video gaming
From AI-generated characters to 3D technology, companies showcase the expanding applications of AI in video games
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.
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.
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.
