Author | Ranger, Wang Yuchan
Editor | Qiao Qian
In 2025, AI began to reshape the content industry.
Some emerging content industries, such as comic dramas, have rapidly “emerged from nothing” under the penetration of AI, even triggering fierce competition among giant companies. The traditional content industries that have not seen new dividends for a long time, such as the game industry, have achieved more effective operations and earned more money thanks to AI.
Comic dramas are a new form of content derived from short dramas. They have been supported by AI technology since their inception, and their presentation forms are similar to traditional comics and animations. The industry and the public call them “AI comic dramas.” It can be said that without AI, this business form would not exist.
On December 24th last year, according to ByteDance data, the daily consumption of comic dramas on the Douyin platform exceeded 20 million yuan, a month – on – month surge of 568% compared with the first half of the year. Another institution predicts that the scale of the AI comic drama industry will expand to 20 billion yuan in 2025, which is more than one – third of the traditional film industry.
If the impact of AI on short dramas is “beyond expectations,” then its impact on the game industry is “below expectations.”
Previously, the industry and the public once thought that AI – native games, which would subvert the production process and provide players with a highly free and random gaming experience, would soon appear and rewrite the history of the game industry. However, the reality is that as of the end of 2025, AI is mostly a “efficiency – enhancing” tool rather than a revolutionary factor.
According to data disclosed by the WeChat official account “Game Gyro,” the number of games on the Steam platform that publicly use generative AI increased from 7,818 in July to over 10,000 in December 2025, accounting for about 8% of the total Steam library, still leaving much room for growth.
The business world is changing rapidly due to technological development, and the content industry is the fastest mirror reflecting these changes.
In 2025, how did AI change the content industry, and how did content companies survive the great changes? What new changes will emerge in 2026? We talked to entrepreneurs, investors, and business leaders from large companies in the industry about their judgments.
Comic Dramas
The rise of AI comic dramas as a new trend is essentially due to the support of AI technology, which has lowered the threshold and cost while improving efficiency.
Xue Ye, the person – in – charge of Tencent’s comic dramas: AI comic dramas are similar to short dramas in terms of business models and development processes, but there is one difference. The emergence of AI comic dramas is essentially due to technological breakthroughs rather than changes in the content industry itself.
Chen Xiangyu, the founder of Outliers: The market creates demand based on supply. AI comic dramas are born out of technological innovation, and their explosion is also due to technological development. For example, after the launch of Keling, a text – to – video large – model on Kuaishou in June 2024, the quality and quantity of AI videos on the market have improved significantly.
AI comic dramas have completed a three – year development process of short dramas in just one year, and even exploded and became more “in – volved” more quickly.
Huang Haonan, the founder of Jiangyou Culture: The development of AI comic dramas is ten times faster than that of short dramas. There was no concept of AI comic dramas in January 2025, and the first comic drama works appeared in February. However, by July, the industry entered an explosive period. Now, the daily output of AI comic dramas can reach 300 – 500, comparable to the annual output of the traditional animation industry. I predict that in the first half of 2026, the daily number of new AI comic dramas will exceed 1,000, and the industry competition will be more intense, similar to the situation of the traditional live – action short drama industry after three years of development.
Chen Xiangyu, the founder of Outliers: The AI comic drama industry is accelerating its transformation towards high – quality products. Good IPs will be more valuable in 2026.
In the first half of 2026, AI comic dramas will reach new heights in both quantity and quality, and the industry and the public are looking forward to the birth of a major hit.
Huang Haonan, the founder of Jiangyou Culture: Many people were still on the sidelines of the industry before, but by the end of last year, AI comic dramas were well – known to everyone. People began to “stockpile resources and build up defenses” and are ready to make great efforts in the new year. After the Spring Festival in 2026, there should be an exaggerated explosion in production.
Xue Ye, the person – in – charge of Tencent’s comic dramas: With the iteration of production technology and the investment of more good IPs in the industry, it is very likely that there will be a national – level AI comic drama work in 2026.
Chen Xiangyu, the founder of Outliers: Initially, the demand of the audience for AI comic dramas may just be a large quantity to satisfy their hunger. But one day, when there is a content with high audio – visual quality, it will definitely become a hit.
It’s hard to say what the upper limit of AI comic dramas is, but the upper limit of AIGC must be very high.
Xue Ye, the person – in – charge of Tencent’s comic dramas: The explosion of AI comic dramas is a revolution in productivity. In the future, the entire field of story creation may be driven by AIGC, and the layout of companies in the industry will not be limited to AI comic dramas.
Huang Haonan, the founder of Jiangyou Culture: The essence of AI comic dramas is content. As long as the core of the story remains, the AI comic drama track will never disappear. It will just become more and more high – quality.
Chen Xiangyu, the founder of Outliers: AI comic dramas are audio – visual works of AIGC. Their future forms or names may change, but they will not disappear.
AI comic dramas in the initial stage have not gone global yet, but they are bound to go overseas like short dramas.
Xue Ye, the person – in – charge of Tencent’s comic dramas: The emotional undertones of many contents are common. After the supply in the industry stabilizes next year, the industry will still look overseas. With the support of AI, comic dramas have more advantages in going global than traditional live – action short dramas because of their low trial – and – error cost and small cultural barriers.
Huang Haonan, the founder of Jiangyou Culture: I think the success rate of AIGC going global will be higher, and there will be a major explosion in the industry’s overseas expansion in 2026. Japanese comics have proved to the world that animation has no borders.
Chen Xiangyu, the founder of Outliers: The domestic AI comic drama market will gradually become saturated, and with successful experience, going global is an inevitable result and path.
Games
In the past year, AI has fully penetrated the entire process of game production.
Wang Chuanpeng, the vice – president of data at the technology center of 37 Interactive Entertainment: In 2024, we were still in the experimental stage of AI games, including different divisions of labor and perspectives. But in 2025, we directly put forward indicators and requirements. It can be said that by 2025, we further clarified the goals and promotion mechanisms of AI games and moved from concept verification to systematic promotion.
Wen Yuanxu, the person – in – charge of product and operation of Keling AI: In the past year, we have clearly felt that the attention and implementation speed of AI in the game field are accelerating. We have seen more and more small and medium – sized teams and even individual developers start to use generative AI technology to develop more free and interactive gaming experiences.
Zhuang Minghao, the VP of Quwan Network and the host of “The Art of Slaying Dragons”: 2025 was a year of competition among large – models for multi – modality, and multi – modal large – models are naturally closer to games than pure language large – models. This makes more game creators and venture capitalists more willing to take a step forward. It can be said that AI has clearly penetrated the entire process of game production.
Large game companies are more inclined to explore how to implement AI, and their exploration of AI – native games is relatively limited.
Zou Jiaxuan, the general manager of NetEase’s Zhurong Studio and the producer of the mobile game “The Wuxia”: We attach great importance to both the attention and learning of cutting – edge development and the innovative combination of cutting – edge AI and games. At present, our main goal is to create innovative game content and experiences.
Wang Chuanpeng, the vice – president of data at the technology center of 37 Interactive Entertainment: Our company’s strategy for exploring AI has three aspects. First, improving organizational efficiency. Second, productization and commercial application exploration for business scenarios. Third, “AI for good.” Among them, “AI for good” emphasizes social value and industry co – construction, focuses on cutting – edge exploration such as AI – native games, and is usually promoted in the form of research, popular science, ability opening, or public – welfare cooperation, not taking short – term commercial returns as the only measurement standard.
Wen Yuanxu, the person – in – charge of product and operation of Keling AI: At present, the application of AI in games is still mainly focused on “cost – reduction and efficiency – improvement,” especially in areas such as art, audio, and localization. This itself is of great value and is a reasonable path for technology implementation.
Zhuang Minghao, the VP of Quwan Network and the host of “The Art of Slaying Dragons”: Most game companies are very practical in the current environment. It is a luxury to talk about exciting stories in this environment.
AI games will have their “ChatGPT moment,” but it is not certain when this moment will come.
Zou Jiaxuan, the general manager of NetEase’s Zhurong Studio and the producer of the mobile game “The Wuxia”: This moment will definitely come. What is certain is that before this major “ChatGPT moment” arrives, there will be multiple specific and small “ChatGPT moments” in terms of game content innovation, production, and cost. For example, just a few days ago, Google released the Genie 3 world model, which has once again broadened the boundaries of our imagination.
Wang Chuanpeng, the vice – president of data at the technology center of 37 Interactive Entertainment: From a technological trend perspective, directions such as generative AI and world models are expanding the boundaries of interactive content. We are more concerned about game forms with higher freedom and stronger interactivity on the premise of stable experience, controllable gameplay, and verifiable content security and compliance. Which specific form will mature first still needs time and the industry to jointly verify.
Compared with AI – native games, the industry is more anxious about how to extend the life cycle of existing games. Making long – lasting game IPs is a good attempt.
Jing Dayuan, the person – in – charge of the marketing center of Tencent Games’ Tianmei Studio and the general person – in – charge of the “Honor of Kings” brand: In the early stage of a game, IP operation is an important means to achieve “long – lasting success,” which can inject depth and breadth into the product. When a game can be operated for ten years and has hundreds of millions of daily active users, it has already become a huge cultural symbol and emotional container.
Zou Jiaxuan, the general manager of NetEase’s Zhurong Studio and the producer of the mobile game “The Wuxia”: Nowadays, there is a serious oversupply of information, entertainment content, and game content, and the competition among games is more intense. Therefore, it is more difficult for a new game to succeed, and it has higher requirements for quality, innovation, differentiation, and unique insights. But on the other hand, once these higher requirements are met, the competitive advantage of the game will be more obvious, and it will be easier to achieve long – lasting success.
Zhuang Minghao, the VP of Quwan Network and the host of “The Art of Slaying Dragons”: When a game extends from a simple gaming attribute to a content attribute and even an artistic attribute, it is natural for it to develop an IP, especially for some long – lasting games that may have accompanied a generation’s growth, which are more qualified to develop IPs.
For large game companies, the primary goal of developing IPs is to attract new players, and commercialization comes second.
Jing Dayuan, the person – in – charge of the marketing center of Tencent Games’ Tianmei Studio and the general person – in – charge of the “Honor of Kings” brand: The core function of game IP operation is to “transform users’ short – term enthusiasm for gameplay into long – term emotional recognition of the brand.” It helps the game transcend the attributes of an “entertainment tool” and a “commercial product” and become a digital symbol with social connection and cultural appeal.
The person – in – charge of the “Shining Nikki” brand: A very important barrier for “Shining Nikki” is technology, so we need to emphasize product strength and operate the game IP. In 2025, we increased cooperation with other consumer brands, Internet products, and even theme park IPs like Happy Valley Group. In addition to our own scenario penetration strategy, we also hope that “Shining Nikki” can gain recognition in more fields and attract more players.
Zhuang Minghao, the VP of Quwan Network and the host of “The Art of Slaying Dragons”: The gross profit of games themselves is already very high. Developing IPs and selling related merchandise for games is just a bonus in terms of commercialization. It is more like a small microcosm of the emotional consumption era projected onto the game industry.