After checking the registration backend of the "Shulong Cup" AI Competition, I'm bursting with the urge to start a business.
In 2025, it can be described as a crucial year for the new round of AI craze to enter the implementation and development stage.
Firstly, in the content industry led by games, Cai Haoyu, the founder of Mihoyo, launched a new work called "Whispers from the Star". Players can interact with the AI character Stella in real - time, influencing the plot branches and endings, which shows the industry a new AI - driven story in the "post - metaverse era". In the life simulation game "inZOI" launched in March this year, players can start the "Smart Zoi" experimental function, enabling urban NPCs to be driven by ACE, dynamically act based on personalities and goals, and players can influence NPC behaviors through free - text instructions...
Besides the game industry, which serves as a "testing ground" for cutting - edge technologies, multiple fields such as film and television, music, education, healthcare, consumer electronics, and industry have also started to integrate with AI. For example, in the past year, major mobile phone manufacturers have connected to large language models, combined with functions like image recognition, allowing users to "know everything" anytime and anywhere.
There are many similar cases. The implementation and application of AI are integrating into everyone's work, life, and entertainment at a speed far exceeding our imagination.
AI Experiments by Big Tech Companies
Game giants that are at the forefront of integrating AI into C - end products have already taken action.
At the beginning of 2025, the digital spokesperson Jili in Tencent Games' "Peacekeeper Elite" started to integrate artificial intelligence technology. Supported by the large - model technology of DeepSeek, Jili can not only provide services such as battle review skills and participate in casual chats within the game but also achieve full - scenario coherent interaction and voice functions.
NetEase Games' mobile game "The Chinese Paladin: The Swordsman" launched the world's first in - game large AI model arena, providing players with a brand - new experience of real - time interaction with AI characters.
After Cai Haoyu, the founder of Mihoyo, went to the United States, he chose to fully embrace AI and announced a new project, "Whispers from the Star", in March this year. In the game, players will live on a strange planet with the AI girl Stella. The most prominent tag of this game is "AI intelligent agent voice interaction". The role of AI will mainly be reflected in two aspects: on the one hand, AI will generate Stella's dialogue in real - time, providing different emotional and physical feedback based on players' input; on the other hand, AI will also calculate the game screen 100% in real - time, offering players a more immersive experience.
Image from the Internet
Of course, the official launch of "Whispers from the Star" may still take a long time. However, the emergence of many AI - type products has given new thoughts to the game and pan - entertainment industries.
In C - end products, using AI to enhance the user experience is one way of applying technology. Applying AI in the game development process is another option for big tech companies to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and unleash creativity.
Shangqu Games, a subsidiary of Century Huatong, has deeply integrated AI tools into every aspect of game development. For example, in the art creation process, the use of AI tools has significantly improved the efficiency of the mass - production stage, up to 80%. From original concept design to 3D modeling, AI plays a crucial role, not only shortening the development cycle but also reducing costs.
New Opportunities for Independent Developers
Besides attempting "AI + games" in projects, some manufacturers have already started to layout from the underlying technology.
Five years ago, Century Huatong invested a large amount of funds to build large - scale data centers. So far, two large - scale data centers in Shanghai and Shenzhen have started operating, providing intelligent computing power services for many large domestic enterprises.
Tencent recently launched an innovative project called "Hunyuan - Game". This platform is the first industrial - grade AIGC game content production engine built on the Hunyuan large model, aiming to revolutionize the game asset generation and production process through artificial intelligence technology.
"Hunyuan - Game"
It is worth mentioning that the emergence of these infrastructure - related projects not only provides stronger support for relevant industries to vigorously develop AI but also brings opportunities for AI innovation to many small and medium - sized manufacturers. Compared with the simulation management game "Shawarma Legend", which became popular globally in 2024 and was developed with a large amount of AI - generated content, today's developers have more diverse tools at their disposal.
For example, the "Square Grid Team", the first team to sign up for the Shulong Cup, developed the AI text - based game "Martial Arts World AI", which shows the market the new possibilities of text - based games. Compared with traditional text - based games, "Martial Arts World AI" has made breakthroughs in narrative structure, numerical expression, and interaction methods. It has achieved an elastic narrative structure with the help of AI technology and built a "controllable" martial - arts world through a three - layer elastic narrative system.
The new product "Paw Party" developed by Li Chi, a former ByteDance executive, and his team features an innovative gameplay of "AI + companionship". Players will play as residents on Paw Island, interacting with pets through various activities such as fishing, farming, gathering, building, chatting, and playing party games to cultivate unique AI pets and experience a relaxing and casual pet - raising life.
Full - scale Layout by Technology Providers
While the game industry is exploring the boundaries of AI - driven narratives, technology providers have also applied AI in various fields.
The "Keling" video generation platform developed by Kuaishou uses skeletal binding technology to accurately simulate the linkage effect of muscle groups, bringing more realistic dynamic performances to scenarios such as virtual - human live - streaming and e - commerce displays. The "Vidu" system launched by Shengshu Technology simplifies the traditional full - process animation production from seven steps to four through technologies such as its "motion trajectory prediction" algorithm. It supports more diverse animation styles and more stable and high - quality generation results, providing more possibilities for creators.
The technological breakthrough of the "Jimeng 3.0" platform under ByteDance is reflected in other aspects: while achieving 2K ultra - high - definition resolution output, it has improved the video generation efficiency by 30% and can convert users' text instructions into cinematic images with professional composition and camera work, initially establishing an industrialized creation cycle from idea to finished product.
In addition, AI Agent products that integrate large - model capabilities and are designed for different industries have started to appear. For example, the Operato intelligent agent newly launched by OpenAI has become a global benchmark product in 2025. Its new framework based on the o3 model can perform complex cross - platform operations.
Launch of the Shulong Cup: The Future is Here
As the game and related industries explore the potential of AI, the project registration for the "Shulong Cup" Global AI Game and Application Innovation Competition, hosted by Century Huatong, is in full swing. This competition, with a prize pool of 600,000 yuan and hundreds of millions - level incubation support, has set up two registration directions: AI games and AI applications. It aims to discover highly potential new projects in the industry and provide a more suitable development environment for innovators. (For detailed registration methods, please refer to the long - image at the end of the article)
As a cooperative media for the competition, 36Kr will build a three - dimensional communication system for the event based on its all - media matrix covering tens of millions of users. In addition to providing in - depth competition reports and developer recruitment, we will also collaborate with industry experts to organize online technical salons to discuss the new trends in AI games and AI applications and provide an AI entrepreneurship guide for entrepreneurs.
So far, three online salons for the Shulong Cup have been successfully held, and the fourth one is scheduled to be broadcast live online at 7 p.m. on June 3rd. This time, 36Kr has invited four guests: Wang Jun, the CEO of Jice Information under Century Huatong; Yan Kuan, an investor from Monolith Capital; Sienna, the CMO of the 3D technology development company VAST; and Li Zheng, the vice - president of 36Kr, to discuss "AI Game and Application Entrepreneurship".
Thematic live - broadcast on June 3rd
In addition, Lenovo will support this competition as the chief productivity partner. With its high - performance hardware technology, it will help contestants deploy large models with tens of billions of parameters on high - performance PCs, assist developers in breaking through the computing - power bottleneck, and provide a solid foundation for the practical application of AI technology in game development. Together with developers, Lenovo will promote the intelligent transformation of high - performance products.
As the chief productivity partner of the Shulong Cup, Lenovo, relying on its "device - edge - cloud - network - intelligence" full - stack technology architecture, creates an integrated solution covering hardware infrastructure, intelligent algorithm engines, and scenario - based services. Meanwhile, Lenovo's ThinkPad P series and ThinkCentre provide powerful computing power for professional work. Based on the next - generation computing architecture centered around AI PCs, they reconstruct the human - machine collaborative interaction experience, accelerate the commercialization of AI - native applications from technical verification, and are committed to reshaping users' AI experience in the professional office field, assisting developers in efficient operations, and continuously upgrading enterprise - empowerment services. In 2024, Lenovo's PC business further consolidated its global leading market position, with an annual market share of 23.7%. The sales of AI PCs exceeded the annual target, enabling thousands of global enterprises to complete their intelligent transformation.
To activate the ecological potential, Lenovo has launched the "Startup Star Program", leveraging technology openness to unlock the core capabilities in intelligent manufacturing and intelligent supply chains. Through the dual capabilities of the "ecological resource pool + industrial accelerator", it promotes the demand - matching and complementary capabilities among large, medium, and small enterprises, building an AI innovation community covering technology co - creation, scenario expansion, and value sharing. This strategic initiative is accelerating the innovation and intelligent transformation of enterprises and promoting the development of China's digital economy and AI - related industries.
Whether you are a traditional giant or a startup team, you are all welcome to register for the Shulong Cup. Outstanding projects will have the opportunity to receive all - around support from the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, which will boost your AI game or application.
Here are the detailed information and registration methods for the Shulong Cup:
Project parties can scan the QR code to register
This article was first published on “36Kr Games”.