Chinese Gaming Has a Problem!
Several games showed up at The Game Awards, but can anyone tell them apart?
Above are screenshots taken from 4 trailers from 4 distinct Chinese games that were shown at The Game Awards 2025.
I dare you, try to identify each one. I’ll even list their names below:
-Wuthering Waves
-Arknights: EndField
-Duet Night Abyss
-Zenless Zone Zero
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This is an issue mostly found among F2P gacha Chinese games (mostly, but not only). They pretty much all look the same, by design.
This derivative visual stagnation is something I mentioned a long time ago in a written article for Gamesindustry.Biz, and in several previous posts here on Substack.
There’s clearly an audience and demand for “these sorts of games”, with this particular aesthetic (Genshin Impact arguably being the first big one that created the mold, among Chinese ones). It’s hard to argue against these games, considering their popularity and how they generate massive profits for their developers and publishers. However, in an increasingly competitive and flooded landscape, adopting similar aesthetics can quickly become a double edged sword.
On one hand it guarantees that core anime fans at least will pay attention and possibly engage with the game. The potential audience is always there. On the other hand, the lack of differentiation can dilute the offering in itself, and make it harder to not only increase their audience but also reach new gamers. It’s a diminishing returns path really, if we see it from a linear timeline perspective: Genshin Impact started the trend (among Chinese devs, specifically!), and most similar games that came after have been struggling to reach those heights in terms of user numbers and retention. The audience while large, ends up being cannibalized by the many games on offering, and new titles being introduced struggle even more to capture users. Generally!
Having said all that, it would be unfair however to generalize and say ALL Chinese games look the same. They don’t (hello “Karma Dark World”)! That’s not what I’m saying here. If we really dig into it, we’ll quickly find quite the spectrum of different styles and genres among Chinese-developed games. Not to mention as well, games that use non-Chinese licenses (Marvel Rivals and many more), and studios that are owned by Chinese companies but operate outside of China and produce distinctive-looking titles (Riot Games comes to mind - fully owned by Tencent).
Plus, with time I believe we’ll see more and more diversification coming out from Chinese devs. It really is a business survival imperative. Stagnation is not a sustainable option.
We need to keep things in perspective however, and understand that just 5 years ago, barely any Chinese games were globally launched outside of mobile. Everything is very new, and moving very fast!
Still, Chinese gaming has an optics problem, I think. Even if temporary.
The gigantic and widespread influence from successful F2P anime-looking Chinese games is shaping public perception, and general expectations. That could represent a challenge for future games who’ll need to show and prove themselves to gamers that they’re actually different. Already now when a new Chinese game is announced, common responses include something like “Another F2P gacha”, not in a complimentary way.
To end on a positive note (depending on where you stand on this), I’m firmly convinced that the output from Chinese developers will overwhelm the industry, sooner rather than later. In quantity, quality, but also creatively. There are just too many studios in China, too much human talent, a lot of resources and backing, and tons of ambition and a thirst for global affirmation!
Agreed. When I worked on a lot of strategy games for Chinese companies, I had the same issue. This is actually a broader business strategy. Similar to that saying "If someone builds a car shop on a street, an Indian builds a repair center. A Chinese person builds another car shop."
First time I hear that, and yes, makes total sense yeah.