(EN SUBS) Interview with Kuro Games Chairman Liu Sheng: How China’s gaming industry gained a systemic advantage
By 羊城派
1. Kuro's journey from a small team to a global developer
- Liu Sheng reflects on Kuro Games' growth from a small team into an international game company.
- Kuro's development philosophy has consistently been to take on difficult challenges rather than choosing the easier path.
- The company has continued investing in technology, development quality, global publishing, and multi-platform operations.
- His core idea is essentially: do the difficult but correct things, even when the results take time to appear.
2. Wuthering Waves' global success
- Liu attributes the game's international success primarily to the quality of the game itself.
- Wuthering Waves winning the TGA 2025 Players' Voice Award was highlighted as an important milestone.
- The game's global concert tour in 2026 is another example of how its audience has expanded beyond the game itself.
- Rather than viewing these achievements as isolated successes, Liu sees them as the result of years of investment in the product.
3. China's game industry is changing.
- One of the biggest points in the interview is Liu's view that China's game industry has moved from:
“Single-point breakthroughs” → “Systematic advantages”
In the past, Chinese developers could succeed by making breakthroughs in individual areas.
Today, the competitive advantage comes from having an entire ecosystem supporting game development.
This includes:
- Technology
- Talent
- Production capabilities
- Global publishing
- Operations
- Cultural creativity
- Industrial infrastructure
Liu describes this as a shift from simply “borrowing a ship to go overseas” to “building your own ship and going overseas.”
4. Going global independently
- Kuro's international strategy isn't simply about partnering with overseas companies.
- The company has increasingly built its own capabilities for global publishing and multi-platform operation.
- This gives Chinese developers greater control over how their games are presented and operated internationally.
- Liu sees this ability to independently reach global players as an important part of China's growing competitiveness.
5. Technology is a major foundation.
- Liu emphasizes continuous technological improvement as an important part of Kuro's development.
- He gives an example of something as small as character movement and animation.
- Even when an animation already looks acceptable, the development team may repeatedly adjust and refine it to make the movement feel more natural.
- This reflects Kuro's approach of continuing to improve details that players may not consciously notice but can feel while playing.
6. Game technology can have applications beyond games.
- Kuro's game development technology can also have value outside traditional gameplay.
- The digital environments created for games can function as simulated environments for AI training.
- These environments can provide relatively low-cost scenarios for training and experimentation.
- Liu sees this as an example of game technology creating spillover benefits beyond the gaming industry.
7. "Left-hand technology, right-hand culture”
- A major theme of the interview is Liu's view that games combine technology and culture.
- Games are not simply entertainment products.
- They can serve as a medium where technology and cultural expression come together.
- Wuthering Waves uses a science-fiction setting while incorporating Eastern aesthetics.
- Rather than directly explaining traditional culture to players, Liu believes games can allow players to experience and understand those cultural elements naturally through the world.
His goal is for global players to see a modern China that combines:
- Long cultural history
- Modern technology
- Contemporary creativity
8. Cultural expression should feel natural
- Liu doesn't describe cultural communication as simply inserting traditional Chinese elements into a game.
- Instead, cultural elements should become part of the game's art direction, worldbuilding, storytelling, and overall experience.
- Wuthering Waves is presented as an example of using modern game design to express elements of Eastern aesthetics.
9. Why the Greater Bay Area matters
- Liu also discusses Kuro's connection to the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area.
- He considers the region an important reason Kuro was able to grow.
The advantages include:
- A mature gaming industry chain
- Concentrated talent
- Technology resources
- Business infrastructure
- Supportive policies
- These factors allow companies to develop over the long term rather than relying only on individual breakthroughs.
10. The future of Chinese games
- Liu's broader view is that China's gaming competitiveness is becoming increasingly systematic rather than dependent on individual companies or isolated successes.
- Better infrastructure and accumulated experience allow developers to compete globally at a higher level.
- He expects the Greater Bay Area to continue producing games capable of reaching international audiences.
11. Kuro's philosophy
- Do difficult but meaningful things.
- Keep improving technology.
- Build independent global capabilities.
- Combine technology with culture.
- Focus on making the product itself good.
- Liu's argument is that Kuro's international growth wasn't created by one particular breakthrough. It came from continuously building capabilities across development, technology, publishing, culture, and global operations.
12. The biggest takeaway
- China's game industry is no longer competing through isolated breakthroughs. Its advantage is increasingly coming from a complete system of technology, talent, production, culture, and global distribution.
- Liu presents Kuro Games and Wuthering Waves as an example of that transition: from a small Guangzhou development team to a company capable of developing, publishing, operating, and promoting a game on a global scale.
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