Chinese gaming companies took center stage at Gamescom 2025 in Cologne, Germany, showcasing blockbuster titles and cutting-edge AI technology.
The world's biggest gaming event ran from Wednesday to Sunday, attracting more than 300,000 visitors eager to try new games, meet their heroes, and glimpse the future of an industry projected to reach nearly 190 billion U.S. dollars this year.
Tencent, China's largest gaming company, reported about 8.3 billion dollars in gaming revenue in the first quarter of 2025, with both its domestic and international businesses growing by roughly 25 percent.
One of the major reveals at Gamescom was "Dune: Awakening" produced by Level Infinite Studios, part of Tencent.
It is an online survival game set on Arrakis, the desert world from Frank Herbert's classic novel. It launched with more than 140,000 players online simultaneously on day one. Developer Funcom has already announced the first expansion, scheduled for release in September.
EA Sports FC is among the world's best-selling franchises, with millions of copies sold each year. Games like this are at the heart of e-sports, a market expected to generate 1.7 billion dollars in 2025 and attract more than 640 million viewers worldwide.
Artificial intelligence was one of the buzzwords at Gamescom, with Chinese studios like Level Infinite, demonstrating how AI can transform game development and gameplay.
"The core benefit of AI is to help accelerate the process, to make it more efficient. AI can help with game development to help artists, make a visual animation to accelerate the process. The third one is that we can also embed AI into the game, to make it more interactive, more immersive, to bring some uniqueness for the players," said Hu Ninghang, technical director of Level Infinite.
Chinese studios are also looking to bring their culture to global audiences.
"We hope to bring Chinese games to a global audience while integrating diversified Chinese elements into our games, like Spring Festival or Duanwu Festival," said Xiao Lu, operations manager of the Beijing-headquartered Hero Games.
On the eve of the fair, Chinese studio Game Science unveiled its latest title, Black Myth: Zhong Kui, during the Opening Night Live showcase. The release drew loud cheers from both the audience in Cologne and viewers following the global livestream.
The developer launched Black Myth: Wukong on Aug. 20 last year, a triple-A game inspired by a classic Chinese novel that has since become a global hit. Its new title, Zhong Kui, is rooted in Chinese folklore and features the legendary ghost-hunting figure.
"The quality of games that coming out of China right now are incredible. As long as that continues in any market, you're going to see success, you're going to see popularity, you're going to people following, you're going to see people here in Cologne playing a game from China and they just love it," said Berkley Egenes, chief marketing and growth officer of the Xsolla, an American financial technology company.
Chinese developers take spotlight at Gamescom 2025 with blockbusters , AI innovations
