Shu Ren

As the digital wave sweeps across the world, esports - a trailblazer of the digital age - can no longer be ignored. Since 2024, Zhejiang has introduced 20 measures to support Chinese games overseas, Beijing has rolled out 11 measures to ease pressure on the games and esports sectors, and Shanghai has risen to the top of the Global Esports City Influence ranking. From the central government to local authorities, supportive policies are gathering momentum, and China's games and esports industry is undergoing an unprecedented reassessment of its value and potential.

At the frontier of technological innovation, games and esports have become a crown jewel of the digital economy and a super test bed that integrates cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, graphics rendering, and human-computer interaction. As an agile force in cultural outreach, they are also quietly reshaping global perceptions of Chinese culture. If high-speed rail and 5G represent hard power, games offer a flexible channel for soft power. In Genshin Impact, for example, the Liyue region draws on Huizhou architecture and the landscapes of Guilin, while the poetry associated with the character Xingqiu subtly conveys the spirit of Chinese wuxia, giving players worldwide an introduction to Eastern aesthetics. Black Myth: Wukong, with its documentary-level visuals and reimagined Journey to the West universe, attracted global attention even before launch. The success of such cultural encoding demonstrates the natural strengths of games as a new narrative medium.

As a new vehicle for sporting values, esports is colliding and converging with the passion of traditional competition. The 2025 Esports World Cup will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from July 7 to August 24. Reaching more than 100 countries and regions, the event will bring together 2,000 players and 200 world-class clubs to compete across 24 esports titles for a prize pool exceeding USD 70 million. It will showcase the powerful resonance between traditional sporting values and the energy of the digital age. Football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has been named a global ambassador for the 2025 Esports World Cup. Its theme, Rise Above, is a fitting expression of the competitive spirit: unlock potential, push beyond limits, and pursue excellence.

As the global industry landscape is reshaped, Chinese games are moving from follower to leader. International giants have already recognized the strategic value of games as a gateway to the next generation of the internet: Microsoft spent USD 68.7 billion to acquire Activision Blizzard, while Sony is accelerating its expansion into metaverse content. Against this backdrop, China's games industry is demonstrating strong momentum, supported by innovation and national strategy. In the first half of 2024, overseas sales revenue from games developed in China reached USD 8.554 billion, up 4.24% year on year. Yet this is only the beginning. To gain a genuine voice in technical standards and industry rules, the sector must continue strengthening proprietary technology, cross-cultural resonance, and localized operations.

Taking Chinese games overseas is both an exploration of a vast commercial market and a far-reaching dialogue between civilizations. When interaction at our fingertips crosses linguistic and geographic boundaries, and Chinese stories in virtual worlds generate empathy and resonance, games rise beyond entertainment to become bridges of cultural exchange.

Now is the time to set sail. Only by upholding innovation and cultural confidence - using technology as the framework and culture as the soul - can Chinese games navigate the global digital ocean, help the world embrace creativity from China, and showcase the brilliance of Chinese civilization in the digital age.