Will Sora Disrupt Game Development? Chinese Game Companies Enter AI Race
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"If video generation capabilities are ever used to reshape video games, the new medium created will reconstruct virtual worlds with unprecedented realism, and this medium could become a new paradigm for future video games and even broader entertainment," lamented Zhang Haoyang, founder of AutoGame.
OpenAI's text-to-video model Sora has caused a massive stir in the industry, creating seismic waves.
The gaming industry has become one of the epicenters of this disruption. Beyond its ability to generate up to 60 seconds of video from text, OpenAI also mentioned in its report that Sora can simulate manual development processes. Taking video games as an example, by providing Sora with prompts containing the word "Minecraft," it can render game scenes strikingly similar to Minecraft with high fidelity, while also simulating player interactions with game characters. The launch of Sora has reignited industry focus on AIGC (Generative Artificial Intelligence), with debates centering on whether it can completely 'disrupt' the sector. Zhou Hongyi, founder and chairman of 360 Group, posted on social media, stating that Sora could shorten the timeline for achieving AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) from 10 years to just two or three.
Huajin Securities' research report suggests that gaming is one of the most complex and promising directions for AIGC technology. Sora can generate game scenes, render environments with high fidelity, and even simulate player interactions with game characters. Therefore, mature text-to-video technology integration could enhance the quality and efficiency of content-driven and interactive games, better delivering emotional value to users, improving experiences, accelerating monetization, and empowering the gaming industry.
Regarding the emergence of the text-to-video model Sora, Gao Dongxu, founder and chief analyst of China Entertainment Think Tank, told Time Weekly, 'Sora can be seen as a specific application or model in the AIGC field, leveraging AI to generate video content. This can be widely applied in game development, such as creating promotional videos and character animations. However, it doesn’t mean it will disrupt existing game engines—rather, it represents a future direction for expanding their functionality.' The gaming industry, as an early testing ground for AI technology, has already implemented AIGC applications, which are profoundly transforming game development.
Gao Dongxu told Time Weekly that currently, the application of AI/AIGC in domestic game companies is very widespread, mainly including game content production (program development, graphic and image generation, game script creation), intelligent generation of game characters (NPCs), game marketing (intelligent recommendations and marketing), and game voice interaction.
Wang Chuanpeng, Vice President of Data at 37 Interactive Entertainment (002555.SZ), stated to Time Weekly that 37 Interactive Entertainment has integrated AI capabilities such as foundational large models with gaming scenarios, developing various AI tools tailored to game business processes. These include the game development platform "Zeus," the intelligent R&D platform "Cupid," and the art design platform "Turing," empowering their own business operations. According to Wang Chuanpeng, "Turing" is an art asset storage platform in the art production process. Art personnel can use "Turing" to more conveniently explore stylized creativity and train their own art model libraries. It is gradually being applied to the production of various art scenarios such as characters, scenes, UI, and promotional materials, effectively improving design collaboration, optimizing resource reuse rates, and enhancing team collaboration capabilities.
Currently, "Turing" has implemented the most commonly used art functions, including text-to-image, image-to-image, local repainting, intelligent image expansion, and intelligent composition.
"Take the original painting of a female character in Victorian clothing as an example. We first provide a series of prompts, such as standing pose, Victorian era, full-body portrait, etc. The AI can then generate a large number of concept prototypes based on our requirements for us to choose from. Next, after selecting a concept prototype produced by the AI, we manually make some adjustments and then hand it over to the AI for further optimization and refinement. Finally, we perform some subtle manual tweaks on the AI-optimized image to produce art resources ready for practical use," Wang Chuanpeng explained. △Image source: Provided by the interviewed company
Wang Chuanpeng told Time Weekly that "Cupid" is a platform in game development that uses AI agents to replace manual large-scale, strategic balance testing. Leveraging the "Cupid" platform, professionals can employ AI algorithms to achieve high-precision, high-performance capture of video movements and facial expressions, significantly enhancing the efficiency of 3D dynamic content production.
It is evident that AIGC is rapidly being implemented across various aspects of game development, operation, and management. According to Gamma Data's China Game Industry AIGC Development Prospects Report, 64% of China's top 50 revenue-generating game companies have explicitly deployed AIGC technologies with substantive actions.
Among these companies, 27 have applied AIGC across the entire game industry workflow, including R&D, marketing, and operations. Twelve companies leverage AIGC-related technologies to provide solutions for other industries or enterprises, while nine focus on digital humans/metaverse applications.
Gao Dongxu further explained to Time Weekly that AIGC applications in the gaming industry have expanded to text-to-video generation. For instance, AI can now create promotional videos or in-game character animations through text-to-video technology. By inputting text descriptions, AI automatically generates compliant video content, significantly improving production efficiency and quality. As one of China's early adopters in the AIGC field among leading game companies, NetEase (09999.HK) launched the country's first AIGC mobile game 'Justice Online' in June last year.
According to materials provided by NetEase's relevant personnel to Time Weekly reporters, AI is ubiquitous in 'Justice Online', including highly intelligent AI NPCs, AI character customization, AI poetry composition, AI painting, AI adventure stories, AI Song Dynasty news, and more.
In 'Justice Online', players can create their own AI-driven highly intelligent NPCs. These intelligent NPCs will then actively explore the game world, plan their own life development directions, and autonomously develop their social networks, just like real players. Rui Feng, the technical leader of NetEase Fuxi Lab, stated in a media interview that the intelligent NPC system in 'Justice Online' is powered by genuine AI, featuring ultra-intelligence, multi-dimensional characteristics, and versatile skills. This allows players to experience deeply integrated free interactions within the game.
The NPCs possess their own personalities, motivations, behavioral logic, and memory. They can learn and respond based on player actions and environmental changes. Player interactions with these intelligent NPCs extend beyond text and voice dialogues, encompassing various game systems such as social circles, bounty hunting, and martial arts factions.
Breakthroughs in AI large models regarding data, computing power, and training methods have created new opportunities across industries, with gaming companies being among the first to embrace these advancements. Fang Han, Chairman and CEO of Kunlun Tech (300418.SZ), noted in an interview that the launch of Sora has further accelerated domestic companies' investments in this field. "Sora exhibits technological features such as 3D spatial coherence, simulation of digital worlds, long-term continuity, object persistence, and interaction with the environment. It represents a significant leap and breakthrough in text-to-video technology, leading domestic competitors by about six months. This will have a substantial impact on industries like film, video production, and advertising," Fang Han remarked.
In Wang Chuanpeng's view, the text-to-video model Sora is also a product of AI-driven technological transformation. As a production tool, it positively influences productivity enhancement and liberation.
"To some extent, it can be seen as an advanced version of text-to-image technology. Once the technology matures, it will significantly improve creators' efficiency and holds considerable market potential," Wang Chuanpeng analyzed. Wang Chuanpeng revealed to Times Weekly that domestic text-to-video technology is still in its early stages of development, with a long road ahead. Regarding these new technologies, 37 Interactive Entertainment has maintained an open mindset in learning and exploration, and will continue to increase technological innovation in frontier fields such as large models and artificial intelligence.
Giant Network (002558.SZ) stated on February 20 through an interactive platform that it has noticed Sora's breakthrough progress in the field of video generation. In the short term, as a productivity tool, it is expected to greatly improve content creation efficiency in the gaming industry. In the long term, Sora's emerging understanding of 3D models and powerful physical world simulation capabilities will have a profound impact on the underlying tools of games.
Giant Network mentioned that the company has widely applied its self-developed AI video style transfer technology in research and operation processes to empower creative content expression. At the same time, it is actively laying out the multimodal large model field, focusing on game-specific creation scenarios, and conducting in-depth research and exploration on the stability and controllability of AI video generation and 3D model generation algorithms. Meanwhile, listed gaming companies such as Shunwang Technology (300113.SZ), Perfect World (002624.SZ), Xinghui Entertainment (300043.SZ), Ourpalm (300315.SZ), Kaiser Culture (002425.SZ), and Mingchen Health (002919.SZ) have shared their views on Sora and their AIGC strategies on investor interaction platforms.
Among them, Shunwang Technology stated that the emergence of Sora signals an acceleration in the transition from generative AI to artificial general intelligence (AGI). Ourpalm believes that the emergence of new technologies like Sora will help improve game development efficiency, advance the realization of creative ideas in game production, and enhance the gaming experience.
Regarding AIGC deployment, companies like Shunwang Technology, Ourpalm, and Xinghui Entertainment already have relatively mature applications in place. Shunwang Technology's Lingxi text generation algorithm can be applied to text generation scenarios. Based on user-input text and virtual character profiles, it generates responses that meet user requirements while staying true to the virtual persona. Shunwang stated they will further refine the Lingxi engine and their Laolao product, though the business is still in its early stages without significant revenue scaling.
Ourpalm Technology has deployed resources in its "AI Game Creation Platform" and LayaAir game engine, representing active exploration of combining gaming tools/platforms with AI technology. These serve as effective application scenarios and partnership opportunities for emerging AI technologies (including text-to-video). The company's accumulated 3D assets and engine technology may also contribute to industry-wide technical training or iteration.
Star Entertainment revealed its game R&D team has achieved AI-based training for game assets. Leveraging tools like Runway for AI-powered text-to-video generation combined with game engine rendering optimization, the team now independently produces higher-quality game cutscenes, promotional videos, and dynamic UI elements for upcoming products. Additionally, Perfect World stated that for external AI technologies and tools, the company will conduct secondary development to create AI production tools that are more compatible with its game products and more targeted. The customized AI tools will better meet the company's business needs, helping to improve application efficiency and optimize production results.
With the continuous evolution of AI technology, its impact on the gaming industry goes far beyond being a "productivity tool" for cost reduction, efficiency improvement, or assisting in design and promotion. AI will gradually become integral to the core processes of game development and may even emerge as a new "game engine."