Gaming is eating the world, and China is no exception. Similar to how gaming platforms are expanding to cover non-gaming functions in the West, gaming companies in China are also experimenting with new types of experiences and use cases.
Tencent, the owner of WeChat, is also a leader in the gaming industry in China, and it has acquired many gaming companies to expand its global footprint. Gaming has long been Tencent’ s biggest cash generator, as the company controls more than half of China’ s $33 billion gaming market. It has also pioneered mobile gaming, where China leads the world, and added mini-games to WeChat in 2018 to make it a casual gaming platform.
Interestingly, it is also a minor investor in Epic Games, the company behind the Unreal Engine, which is being expanded to many non-gaming use cases, as the global Outlook report laid out. However, because Tencent already controls the all-in-one mobile platform in China with WeChat, it has fewer incentives to expand into building bridges to metaverses or other virtual platforms that could undermine WeChat’ s dominating control on mobile.
Nevertheless, there have been some interesting examples of how China is exploring the non-gaming use cases of gaming technologies. One example cited in the global Outlook included the digital twin that a Chinese company 51World has created with the city of Shanghai, using the aforementioned Unreal Engine by Epic. Powered with real-time weather and traffic data, this digital twin of Shanghai enables city officials to simulate proposed changes to its infrastructure and explore various scenarios.
Implementation of digital world-building tools from video games, combined with big data, will help China stay ahead on the development of smart cities.
Since 2019, Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) has been working to become a smart airport by applying innovation and technology to create an enjoyable and hassle-free experience for passengers, as well as enhance operational efficiency. A part of this vision is the creation of a digital twin of HKIA for which the lifelike visualization helps the airport authority streamline the design review for new construction projects, especially for off-site construction methods that require more precise planning. Moreover, using predictive analytics, the digital twin can provide maintenance alerts that are useful in effective resources deployment, resulting in cost savings and improved services.
Taiwan’ s agricultural innovation combines artificial intelligence (AI) and human intelligence (HI), enabling farmers to make smart decisions about “productivity” and “sustainability”. Digital Twin solutions for Smart Farming can reduce import costs for farmers by 50 percent and increase production efficiency by 30 percent.
Also worth noting is the deployment of VR gaming technologies in entertainment and fashion domains. For its 2020 Single’s Day gala event, Tmall invited Katy Perry to perform on a 3D virtual stage, fantastically set on a carousel floating above the earth, which was live-streamed to millions of online and TV viewers.Another recent example came from Balenciaga, which designed a VR game named “Afterworld – The Age of Tomorrow” and launched its 2021 fall/winter collection within the game. This global campaign was activated in China via Balenciaga’s official WeChat account and generated great social buzz among younger consumers who are hungry for unique immersive experiences.
Companies will need to transition their marketing strategies from online ad buys to existing in a shared, virtual economy. Market intelligence towards their new customers in the metaverse will become essential, understanding how people act and what their preferences are in the metaverse could be totally different than how they behave and what they shop for in real life.
