Gaming no longer just about playing games
CROSS-INDUSTRY collaboration — from smart lighting synchronized with games to one-click for sharing of ingame videos and pictures on Weibo to virtual reality with F1 racing — are the highlights of ChinaJoy, Asia’s biggest gaming show.
The annual show this year highlights how the gaming business has upgraded its ecosystem to integrate with smart homes, films, social media and sport.
Gaming brand Razer and Signify, formerly Philips Lighting, have teamed up to offer players a synchronized gaming and lighting experience.
With the latest gaming and smart wireless lighting technologies, the partnership creates an immersive gaming experience, especially for young consumers who want top home entertainment combined with a fashionable lifestyle.
Hong Kong-listed Razer offers the game-focused system Razer Chroma, which is supported by over 100 popular game titles including Overwatch, Fortnite, Diablo and Crossfire.
Through the partnership with Philips’ Hue system, it has strengthened its gamerfocused ecosystem, said Kitty Chen, vice president of sales and marketing and general manager of Razer China.
“It represents Razer’s effort to establish a new ecosystem and lifestyle, beyond just game gadgets,” Chen said.
The convergence between lighting and gaming services is fueled by the latest technology developments in smart homes and the increasingly sophisticated demands of Chinese consumers, said Vivian Xiao, Signify’s head of integrated communications.
Also at the fair, Nvidia, world’s biggest computer graphics firm, announced a strategic partnership with China’s microblogging platform Weibo, seeking opportunities in the convergence of gaming and social media.
With GeForce Experience features, gamers can share ingame videos and pictures on Weibo easily.
“Gamers love sharing
to enrich their experiences with friends and others,” said Joanna Zhou, senior marketing director of Nvidia China.
“Besides Weibo, Nvidia has established similar partnerships with Facebook and Twitch overseas.”
Gaming is the most active category in Weibo, with volume soaring 215 percent year on year in 2017 to 190 million active users, Weibo said.