One More Thing for Tencent Games is AI.
Text by | Beiguoshu
Editor | Liu Shiwu
On May 27th, the 2026 Tencent Games Conference was held at 8 p.m. At the conference, Tencent presented new updates on 42 games across three segments: production, distribution, and investment. Among them, there were 15 new titles, a decrease compared to the 24 new games at the 2025 conference.
Source: 2026 Tencent Games Conference
Different from previous conferences, Tencent had more outputs in the application of AI in games at this conference. In the game production segment, Tencent introduced applications such as the new AI teammate Xiaotian in "Peacekeeper Elite", the AI assistant Lingbao in "Honor of Kings", and the AI commentator for e - sports.
Of course, most of these AI application cases in games have been realized before.
What was most eye - catching was in the "One More Thing" session at the end of the conference. Tencent launched three more significant AI - related product releases, including the AI rendering solution "MagicDawn", the simulation management game "Digital Jingdezhen: A Young Potter in the Porcelain Capital" with AI participation, and the AI game creation platform "Code: Craft".
Of course, it was both expected and full of surprises that Tencent unleashed its "AI big move" at this year's games conference. In March this year, Tencent brought 21 AI - related sharing sessions at the GDC. At this conference, it also introduced the progress of multiple game AI applications. We can see Tencent's accumulation and determination in exploring AI applications.
MagicDawn is based on neural network real - time inference technology, breaking the technical limitations of traditional global illumination and taking the game lighting performance to a new level. The product has completed in - depth cooperation with Arm, is compatible with the new - generation Arm GPU and built - in AI accelerators, and can achieve high - quality AI rendering on mobile devices. It's worth mentioning that choosing to fully open - source the AI lighting solution, MagicDawn's move is very clear, which also proves Tencent's confidence in its technical strength.
The core ability of Code: Craft is to generate games through natural language interaction. Users can input simple text descriptions, and the AI can quickly generate prototypes of different types of games such as 2D and 3D, transforming ideas into playable content. The platform addresses the pain points of art production capacity in traditional development, has built - in complete AIGC tools, and freely provides more than ten thousand pre - made art assets, reducing the creation threshold. The platform will conduct its first test soon.
Source: 2026 Tencent Games Conference
"Digital Jingdezhen: A Young Potter in the Porcelain Capital" is a small porcelain - related management game jointly developed by Tencent and the official institutions in Jingdezhen. It is also the official's first small game with this theme. Players can grow from apprentices to kiln owners, collect famous porcelain from different dynasties through management, and experience the porcelain - making process and the development of the thousand - year - old porcelain industry. The game uses a multi - modal AI dataset and combines technologies such as AI digital humans and AI 3D generation. It is planned to be officially launched in the summer of 2026.
Overall, Tencent's layout in the game AI field has moved from the early exploration and trial - and - error stage to the full - chain implementation stage. In the early days, AI mainly solved back - end problems such as customer service and content review. Later, it was gradually applied to user experience functions such as NPCs and event commentary. Now, it has entered the core development links such as rendering, creation, and gameplay design, truly changing the production mode of the game industry.
This complete layout from underlying technology to upper - layer products will help Tencent establish obvious differential advantages in the era of AI games and also provide a reference development path for the game industry.
In addition to AI, in terms of specific game products, the focus of Tencent's conference this time mainly centered on two directions: gameplay innovation and globalization.
In terms of gameplay innovation, there are new products like "Lili's Lilliput" and "Void Ring" that expand Tencent's original product tracks and explore differential gameplay. There are also gameplay innovations in old games such as "Peacekeeper Elite" and "Delta Force: Operators" to extend the product's lifespan. The idea of continuous innovation and long - term operation is also enabling more games to join the ranks of "ever - green games".
In terms of globalization, on the one hand, Tencent is actively promoting the overseas expansion of self - developed games. On the other hand, it is bringing more diverse game experiences to players by investing in and acquiring overseas studios. Among the games to be tested or launched soon, there are three Ubisoft IP products: "Just Dance: Party", "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege", and "Assassin's Creed: Black Flag - Memory Remastered", which shows that Tencent's cooperation with Ubisoft in terms of capital, technology, and products over the years is further deepening.
In the product release, there were contents of products from Tencent's overseas - invested studios, and many overseas developers also appeared in the release. "Control: Resonance" will provide high - quality Chinese localization, and the producer of "Path of Exile 2" also announced that free trial activities will be provided for players in the Chinese mainland server.
At the level of self - developed games, there is also a domestic 3A masterpiece like "Annihilation Tide", which has achieved technological innovation and cultural expression in domestic games.
Since 2023, the average annual growth rate of China's game market revenue has been over 7%. At the same time, the growth rate of the overseas market has been slowing down. Against this background, Chinese game companies like Tencent are using excellent self - developed products and overseas - invested and distributed products to increase the international influence of the Chinese game market.
The following is an introduction to some important products at Tencent's conference this time.
Production
"Lili's Lilliput"
"Lili's Lilliput" was first revealed in September 2025. It is a new life - simulation game. In the game, players will play the role of a protagonist who has shrunk due to an accident and carry out activities such as building, collecting, and cooking with the little people named "Lili". In terms of social interaction, "Lili's Lilliput" features lightweight companion - style social interaction. Players can choose to interact with real - life players or complete tasks with AI teammates. At the conference, Tencent also announced news related to a new "Lili" race.
In March this year, "Lili's Lilliput" started its first test. During the test, the news of the game's first test made it onto the hot search lists of various platforms. As of now, the number of pre - registrations for "Lili's Lilliput" on the official website has exceeded 10 million.
As life - simulation is a popular track that many game companies are involved in, "Lili's Lilliput" will surely compete with other products launched at the same time.
"Lili's Lilliput"
"Void Ring"
At the conference, Tencent previewed some content of the S1 season of "Void Ring". "Void Ring" is produced by the independent department CDD under Tencent's IEG business group, which also has the virtual idol and the virtual spokesperson Xingtong of QQ Dance. "Void Ring" started its first test in March this year. It is a strategy - cultivation game with strong combat performances. The characters in the game are all based on real - life virtual anchors. Players need to form their own virtual idol teams and fight against other teams in different scenarios.
When the first preview PV was released, "Void Ring" attracted wide discussion in the player community with the label of "virtual - idol second - generation game" and received 18 million views, seizing the blank track of "virtual - idol gameization" in the current second - generation games.
"Void Ring"
"Under One Person"
"Under One Person" is a 3D fighting and competitive game developed by Tencent's Rubik's Cube Studio. It is adapted from the phenomenon - level domestic comic IP "One Piece". It had two tests in 2024 and 2025. Currently, the number of pre - registrations for the game on the official website has exceeded 30 million.
At this year's GDC game developers' conference, Liao Shiyang, the head of the AI team of Rubik's Cube Studio, shared how AI participates in generating the fighting actions in "Under One Person" to make the character actions more fluent. At the conference, Tencent also released the PV of the new plot "The Attack on the Mountain by the All - Evil" in "Under One Person". From the first test in 2024 to the release of the new plot now, "Under One Person" has received a lot of expectations from players.
"Under One Person"
Investment
"Annihilation Tide"
"Annihilation Tide" is an action - adventure game developed by the Ophiuchus - Eclipse Edge Studio invested by Tencent. It is also Tencent's first single - player 3A game.
The background story of "Annihilation Tide" refers to the legend of King Arthur, which belongs to the Western fantasy genre that is less explored in domestic single - player games. In an interview, the producer mentioned that he shares a similar view with Feng Ji, the producer of "Black Myth: Wukong", believing that as long as it is told by Chinese people, it is a Chinese story.
Judging from the exposed demos, the performance and interactive design of "Annihilation Tide" are excellent. In the BOSS demo session, it also demonstrated diverse combat mechanisms. At the conference, "Annihilation Tide" also showed the technical optimization and announced that offline trial - play activities will be held this summer.
With the expansion of the domestic single - player game market and the emergence of domestic single - player game products, "Annihilation Tide" may become the next hit in domestic single - player games.
"Annihilation Tide"
Distribution
"Arc Hunters"
"Arc Hunters" is a third - person PvPvE extraction shooter game with a science - fiction theme. Its overseas version, "ARC Raiders", was released in October 2025 and has accumulated sales of over 16 million copies, winning the Best Multiplayer Game Award at the TGA 2025.
In April this year, the game obtained the license for the Chinese mainland server and was named "Arc Hunters", which will be distributed by Tencent. At this conference, Tencent announced that pre - registration for "Arc Hunters" will start on May 27th.
"Arc Hunters (ARC Raiders)"
"Caerus Dream"
"Caerus Dream" is a Roguelite card - strategy RPG game with a dark - universe fantasy theme. It is developed by the SUPER CREATIVE team under South Korea's Smilegate and distributed by Tencent Games. Its overseas version has been downloaded over 3.5 million times globally, with a daily active user (DAU) count exceeding one million, and it has topped the free lists in many regions such as the United States, Japan, and South Korea. Previously, "Caerus Dream" completed its first test and will start the official public test on May 28th.
"Caerus Dream"
"Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege: Offensive"
"Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege: Offensive" is adapted from Ubisoft's classic tactical - shooting IP "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege". It is a first - person shooting and competitive game. While retaining the original gameplay, "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege: Offensive" has improved localization and optimized server nodes. When it obtained the license for the Chinese mainland server in 2024, it received a lot of expectations from players. On June 17th, the game will start its first round of test with data deletion.
"Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six