The largest comic convention in Asia, without "AI invasion"

Author: Zheng Xuan

Before attending Bilibili World 2025 (referred to as BW2025), in addition to games, anime, and Cosers, I am also particularly looking forward to seeing some "AI + 2D" content.

In the past six months, with the accelerated implementation of AI applications, "AI + ACG" has become a hot topic. The two-dimensional style AI generated images launched by OpenAI, MiniMax, etc., have become extremely popular, and chat applications focusing on companionship have seen rapid growth. AI + toys have also emerged as a small trend in the first half of the year. Some entrepreneurs have even started creating AI for nurturing figurines, attempting to bring to life the "goods" that ACG users love the most, such as figurines and standees...

It seems that AI technology is rapidly penetrating the ACG (Anime, Comic, and Games) field. Therefore, I originally thought that at the largest comic exhibition in Asia, I would see quite a few new gadgets related to AI. However, upon entering BW, I found that these were almost completely absent. AI is not the main focus; one could even say that it barely appeared in the audience's line of sight.

New technologies have always been a powerful tool for attracting audiences at major exhibitions. This year, in other events I attended, AI and humanoid robots became almost standard. However, at BW, these two major technologies were completely absent, yet it did not affect the excitement and appeal of the exhibition at all. In fact, I noticed that in this crowded offline exhibition, the few AI-related booths hardly attracted many visitors, in sharp contrast to the bustling scenes in other areas.

This instead made me start to think: In an era where the entire industry is keen on exploring "AI + ACG (Anime, Comic, and Games)", why does this trend seem to not truly resonate with those young people who love ACG?

Young audience surrounding the stage | From: BW2025

In the world of anime, there is no AI invasion.

It may be hard for an outsider to imagine just how enthusiastic young people can be about comic conventions.

This year's BW2025 continues to expand, directly booking all exhibition halls of the Shanghai National Exhibition and Convention Center, with a total area of 240,000 square meters. The official estimate is that the number of visitors over three days will reach 300,000, with the number of people booking tickets exceeding 900,000. Tickets were sold out within seconds after going on sale, and surrounding hotels generally raised prices by one to two times during the exhibition period, with many having made reservations two months in advance.

BW will last from July 11th to 13th. According to the official schedule, the entrance opens at 8:30 AM every day. However, when I arrived on the morning of the 11th at 8:30 AM, the scene was already packed with people. I chatted with a familiar exhibitor who said that when he finished setting up at 2:30 AM on the 11th and left, there was already a long line at the entrance.

Arriving at eight and queuing at two, these enthusiastic young people actually have a clear goal: to grab freebies (free merchandise). For example, the paper folding game "Infinite Warmth" has a daily limit of 500. The staff told me that only those who arrive before eight have a chance to get one. I casually checked Xianyu, and a complete set of "Infinite Warmth" freebies has already been priced at 80 to 100 yuan; while the more popular "Love and Deep Space" can sell a single free paper bag for 100 yuan, and a complete set of character merchandise is auctioned on Xianyu, starting at four to five hundred.

Auctioning《恋与深空》BW2025 merchandise on Xianyu丨From: Xianyu

This is hard not to remind people of this year's explosive Pop Mart: the IP economy is essentially the craziest part of the ACG culture. High-quality content (anime, games) breeds strong IPs, which in turn attract fans to continuously consume — from spending money in games, to buying animations, and then to snatching up various derivatives. This logic has been validated countless times.

From an industry perspective, the combination of AI and IP has always been regarded as a direction full of imagination. From the explosive popularity of AI toys to the frequent rumors about the domestic IP leader Pop Mart trying out AI toys — it seems that "AI + ACG" is the next definite growth curve. However, when you truly step into Asia's largest comic exhibition and into the most core consumer space, you will find that all of this currently exists only in PPTs and imagination.

There is almost no display related to AI at the site. Unlike the AI chat, AI live images, and voice interaction experiences seen at other tech exhibitions, very few exhibitors are attempting it here. The Crossfire booth is one of the few areas involving "AI generation": you can hand-draw a sketch, and Tencent Yuanbao will generate a set of personalized equipment, which can then be printed as stickers to take home. However, the flow of people in the experience area is sparse, starkly contrasting with the bustling traditional experience projects on the other side of the CF exhibition area.

AI Equipment Graffiti Room at the Crossfire Exhibition Booth丨Source: Geek Park

Why is this happening? While I was wandering around the exhibition and waiting in line, I chatted with the audience around me and summarized a few observations:

First of all, most of the "AI + ACG" products currently offered by AI are essentially "tools". It can generate images for you and chat with you, but no matter how lifelike it becomes, it is just a "talking" bot. In high-density emotional environments like offline comic exhibitions, what truly makes people willing to wait in line for hours is not the functionality, but the "sense of connection". Coser photoshoots, standee check-ins, immersive interactions—these are the key elements for fans to construct the feeling of "I am truly interacting with the character" and the source of the sense of "I am involved".

In front of the Infinite Warmth booth, fans wrote messages丨From: Geek Park

Secondly, I have also seriously considered that if we want to create a completely AI-driven anime or game character at the exhibition booth—such as using a voice phone or headset connection, or even through a robot—it is technically not impossible. However, the problem is that even if we push the experience to the extreme and spend dozens of times the cost, it may not feel more real than the interaction brought by an outstanding Coser. Cosers enter with emotions; they are "living characters"; while AI is still just a simulation.

The last question is actually the key question - AI lacks "show-off value". The value of AI lies in its inclusivity, while offline secondary dimensional consumption often pursues "scarcity". Waiting for three hours to get limited edition freebies, photos with pain cars, and limited signatures are valuable because they are irreplaceable, limited, and worth showing off. However, generating a sticker or chatting for a moment, no matter how good the technology is, does not currently possess the weight of "social capital" and cannot become the "trophy" to flaunt on Xiaohongshu, Moments, or Bilibili.

Pain cars are the most eye-catching scenery for users to take photos at the ACG (Anime, Comic, and Game) exhibitions丨Source: Geek Park

So the problem is not that AI is not strong enough, but rather that it has not yet truly integrated into the cultural system of the two-dimensional world. In the two-dimensional universe, there is a long-term emotional bond between "characters—fans—communities," and the rapidly developing AI technology has yet to find an approach that fans accept, get excited about, and are willing to spend money and time on.

This is not to say that the ACG culture resists AI. In fact, AI drawing, AI screenwriting, and AI voice acting have already infiltrated the creative backend. The real issue is—when AI wants to step from behind the scenes to the forefront, facing the end users, it still has a long way to go.

Black Monkey is on fire, and China has become the "New Continent" for 3A manufacturers.

AI is still hovering at the door, but another type of content has boldly barged in.

If in the past BW, console games (excluding mobile games, secondary games, and esports) existed more as a background part of ACGN culture, this year's BW2025 has seen console games, including AAA titles and domestic indie games, truly become one of the main attractions on site. The scale of booth arrangements, the enthusiasm of players lining up, and the resources invested by manufacturers have almost exceeded any previous editions.

Behind this, there are actually forces from two directions exerting their influence simultaneously.

One is a domestic manufacturer that is increasingly taking console games seriously, especially in the development and distribution of high-quality original content.

For example, this year Bilibili released the domestically produced console game "Mingmo: The Feather of Abyss." This is a hardcore action game set in an alternate Ming Dynasty background, and it provided a playable demo of the first chapter on-site at the exhibition. I experienced it at BW, and the overall completion was quite good. Whether it's the combat system, the art style, or the expression of the "Eastern Fantasy" atmosphere, one can feel that the project team is seriously aiming for a global platform with this content product.

The author experienced "Late Ming: Feather of Abyss" at the BW booth丨From: Geek Park

There are many others, and aside from these AAA games, the presence of indie games has also increased significantly. This year, the popular games "Phantom Beast Palu" and "Game of the Sultan" were showcased, attracting a considerable number of spectators.

These are not traditional "two-dimensional" works, appearing in two-dimensional exhibitions like BW and gaining a lot of attention — this illustrates one thing: domestic manufacturers are increasingly valuing "console games" as an important part of IP culture, investing in it rather than just being limited to mobile games and light interactions.

On the other hand, global 3A manufacturers are treating the Chinese market as a truly important battlefield for distribution.

The first visit of the famous producer Hideo Kojima to China is a landmark event. "Death Stranding 2" has become one of the core exhibits at BW 2025, which is not only the only stop of the game’s tour in mainland China but also the first time Kojima Productions has truly regarded the Chinese market as an important promotional platform. From Bilibili and Xiaohongshu to Twitter, fans and game practitioners continuously showcase "Kojima and I together" and "Hands-on with 'Death Stranding 2'".

Hideo Kojima posted a photo with Yang Qi and Feng Ji during BW2025 on X丨Source: X

Beyond the island, more foreign manufacturers are coming to China for发行, with platform manufacturers like Sega and Sony PlayStation needing no introduction. The South Korean developer Pearl Abyss, which drew attention due to "Black Desert," is also bringing its new open-world title "Red Desert" for the first time, setting up a booth that is no smaller than those from the late Ming Dynasty. All of this indicates that it's not just leading Japanese creators; mainstream Asian manufacturers are also beginning to reassess the potential of console gaming in China.

So, why now?

The reason is inseparable from a key turning point: "Black Myth: Wukong."

This domestically developed AAA project by Game Science not only brings the term "domestic single-player" back into the mainstream, but also makes global players realize for the first time that Chinese manufacturers can create, dare to create, and have a market to support truly high-quality content.

Looking back over the past few years, domestic consoles/independent games are experiencing a real "cumulative explosion".

On one hand, the technical capabilities of domestic developers are increasingly mature, with art styles becoming more localized and significant improvements in system completeness; on the other hand, the platform ecosystem has become more complete—Steam, Bilibili, TapTap, and even Xiaohongshu and Bilibili video sections have gradually formed a complete chain from development to exposure, from seeding to payment, creating a positive cycle where there are more and more good games and players. Games are becoming "able to support content," so developers naturally begin to pursue the quality and uniqueness of the content itself.

Players experience independent games at BW丨From: BW2025

So when we say "China has become a new frontier for 3A manufacturers," it refers not only to "distribution channels" or "a large player base," but rather - the Chinese market is becoming the birthplace of the next round of imagination and creativity in the global gaming content industry.

Aesthetic, Powered by AI

AI is not the main character - this is my most intuitive feeling after browsing through the entire BW2025. But from another perspective, it hasn't really "absented" itself.

For example, a large number of gaming equipment manufacturers gathered in Hall 3 and Hall 4, such as Lenovo, Galax, Shadow Elf, ROG, etc., and these manufacturers exhibited in collaboration with NVIDIA and Intel. You can see that they have displayed AI-related slogans. Although the exhibition area showcases various high-quality games, console demonstrations, and real-time rendering technologies, the message being conveyed is very clear: today's gaming experience cannot be separated from the underlying support of AI.

NVIDIA Powering Advanced AI Slogan丨Source: BW2025

Whether it's physics simulation in Unreal Engine, ray tracing rendering, dynamic scene construction, or the design of complex character behavior systems... AI is quietly becoming an important part of performance optimization and automation in the game engine creation process. Many of the visually stunning, complex gameplay, and smoothly operated masterpieces seen on BW are not just "born out of thin air"; they rely on the enhanced performance support provided by CPU and GPU at the foundational level empowered by AI.

The same changes are also appearing in the daily workflows of content creators. More and more ACGN practitioners, especially illustrators, concept artists, and independent game developers, have begun to use AI as an "assistant." From composition sketches, character references to background image generation, storyboard assistance, and even plot summary drafting, AI is gradually becoming the "assistant" in the production of 2D content.

Of course, this is not a path without controversy.

For example, Yuewen publicly stated this year that it prohibits authors from using AI to generate content for novels and has explicitly restricted this in the platform agreement; another example is in the game development field, where projects that heavily utilize AI art materials are often questioned by players in the comments for "lacking sincerity" and "being low quality and mass-produced," with even "at a glance AI" becoming a common criticism.

The boundaries of AI creation, the ownership of copyright, the originality of creativity, and the sense of identity among fans are all questions that are far from being conclusively answered.

However, even so, there is already a consensus in the industry: AI will become stronger and stronger; it will not "replace creation," but it will change creation. Just like today when we discuss whether a game is excellent, we no longer look at whether it used AI, but rather at what AI has enabled it to achieve that was previously impossible.

So, when we look back at the almost "invisible" state of AI on the consumer side during this BW, it is actually not a technical issue, but rather a product design and user psychology issue:

In the highly sensitive 二次元 ecosystem regarding "emotional connection," why hasn't AI been able to find more compelling ways?

Why has it quietly integrated on the creation side, but almost failed to become a highlight on the consumption side?

Are we thinking too much about "technology show-off" when building "AI + ACG" and not considering enough about "what users really need to be connected to"?

I increasingly feel that this technological revolution is forcing the content industry to rethink an old question: what constitutes "good content"?

Is it a bunch of "not bad" images and texts generated with high efficiency? Or is it a "certain character" that gives people goosebumps, making them willing to wait in line for two hours just to take a picture?

Standing in the crowd at BW, I am increasingly convinced of the latter.

The popular booth of "Love and Deep Space" | From: BW2025

Therefore, if AI really wants to step into the second dimension, into this group of enthusiastic, dedicated, aesthetic, picky, and loyal users, it cannot just be a "higher-performance tool." It must learn to tell stories, convey emotions, establish characters, create amazement, and provide a sense of connection.

This is not something that can be solved simply by saying "Improve the prompt" or achieved through parameter upgrades.

This is a long-term proposition. For AI to truly become a part of the two-dimensional world, it needs to learn how to touch humans just like human creators.