Chinese games shine at Bilibili’s ACG event as local content begins to eclipse the allure of Japanese anime
- China’s own anime-style games, including miHoYo’s Genshin Impact, Honkai series and HyperGryph’s Arknights drew attention at ACG event
- Rising demand for domestic anime-style games and increased scrutiny of foreign materials has seen Japanese-made content fade in popularity
Home-grown anime, comics and games (ACG) content, led by the rise of domestically-developed video games, has put similar material from Japan in the shade at an exhibition staged by Bilibili in China.
Bilibili, a video streaming and gaming platform, began hosting the anime-themed event in 2017 as a community for fans of Japanese cartoon and comic subculture. But amid the rising popularity of domestic anime-style games and increased scrutiny of foreign materials in recent years, Japanese-made content has faded from view at the BilibiliWorld event.
Bilibili, which began life in 2009 as a platform for Chinese teenagers to watch Japanese cartoons, has evolved into one of the largest video sharing platforms in China for ACG fans and the younger generation.
China’s own anime-style games, including Genshin Impact and the Honkai series from Shanghai-based studio miHoYo as well as Arknights by HyperGryph, drew most of the attention from Chinese fans at this year’s event, which ran from Friday to Sunday.
MiHoYo, a rising video gaming champion that is now competing with Tencent Holdings and NetEase, set up five booths at the exhibition, occupying a central position in the video game section, the largest area at the event.