ChinaJoy 2018 demos a healthier video game industry

World
Europe

02:06

ChinaJoy, one of China's largest video game fair, is now turning Shanghai into a hotpot with armies of showgirls, new games and new hardware.

But what caught our attention is how matured the event – and the people participating in it – has become. The industry seems to have evolved from a mess of low-quality copycats to some serious people trying to deliver great content to consumers.

Made-in-China video games taking on world stage

Gaming is a big business in China. The country has become the world's largest video game market, and the growth shows no sign of slowing down.

But the domestic game makers have been failing to impress local gamers for too many years to build trust.

And some studios are now looking for a global audience.

An example would be Sony's "China Hero Project" launched last year. The Japanese entertainment giant is currently supporting more than a dozen Chinese independent studios to make high-quality games.

Such games are often called "triple-A" titles by industry people.

In this year's ChinaJoy, Sony set up a booth that promoted the benefits of their project.

Some of the games were unique like the zero-gravity space-station shooter "Project Boundary" and the story-telling survival game "Pervader" stuffed with Chinese elements.

Hardware upgrades

The Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has been tapping into the laptop business for more than two years. Now, the company has chosen ChinaJoy to release the 8th-gen CPU upgrade to their gaming lineup.

Similar to other laptop makers, Xiaomi has just upgraded its laptops with the new Intel processor that will significantly increase performance.

There are also some Chinese firms releasing brand new products at ChinaJoy, like Subor, the long-forgotten brand that introduced Nintendo-compatible gaming consoles to the Chinese mass back in the 1990s, is now making a comeback by debuting its VR-capable gaming PC "Subor Z+."

The compact Windows 10 computer was priced at around 730 US dollars. US chipmaker AMD provided customized processors for Z+ to run at relatively high speed while maintaining a slim body.

Beautiful girls are back

One of the biggest sell points of ChinaJoy is sexy-dressed showgirls. In the early years of the event, many companies invite crowds of showgirls and gave them sexy uniforms to impress the audience.

It's a great treat to the gamers and cameramen, but later it went too far. The girls received criticism from the public.

During the 2016 event, a dressing guideline for showgirls was leaked online showing examples of forbidden dressings, making headlines and caused a national discussion on how showgirls should be dressed.

At ChinaJoy 2018, the guidelines seem to have been loosened. The uniforms are back, and the showgirls are more beautiful.

As a result, the cosplayers (people that dress like game/anime characters) have started to show-off their exceptional dress-making skills again.

It seems like they have found a better way to draw attention from gamers.