At the recent "Game Playground" 2026 game demo event co-hosted by Zhihu and Game Xingfan, industry experts addressed the challenges faced by independent game studios in securing financing. Wang Jialun, CEO of Game Teahouse, stated that securing funding based solely on a presentation is nearly impossible. He advised developers to invest time in creating a demo using AI tools instead. Wang highlighted that investment in the gaming sector is primarily available at the angel and pre-IPO stages, with very little available in between. He identified three primary sources of funding: strategic investments from large corporations, successful entrepreneurs looking to give back to the industry, and increasingly competitive publishers.
Regarding the global expansion of independent games, Sherry, the publishing lead at Spiral Up Games, cautioned that AI can create an illusion of omnipotence, which poses a significant challenge for developers entering overseas markets. She cited two examples: the 2025 title "Crypto Simulator," where players demanded replacement of AI-generated assets, and "Crime Scene Cleaner" from April of this year, which received a wave of negative reviews due to detectable AI use, prompting the developers to issue a statement affirming their stance against AI. Sherry recommended a low-cost strategy for global expansion: initially support English and Traditional Chinese, and test other languages in the demo phase. She emphasized that AI is a tool for amplifying capabilities, not a magic solution.
Xiong Tuoni, Vice President of Indie Light, presented a contradictory set of data: while Steam boasts 165 million monthly active users, with an estimated 55 million Simplified Chinese players, nearly half of domestically developed games last year received fewer than 10 reviews. He argued the issue is not a lack of demand, but a misalignment in supply. According to Xiong, too many developers still operate with an outdated mindset focused on traffic monetization. He asserted that the essence of independent games is as a medium for self-expression, suggesting that finding 10,000 like-minded players and tailoring the experience for them is sufficient. For promoting independent games, Xiong advised focusing intensely on the key visual, noting that a player's first impression among a sea of games is the artwork, not the gameplay. He warned that even the most innovative gameplay design will be overlooked if the visuals fail to capture attention.
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