Film’s DeepSeek moment (and what it means for China’s ‘soft power’)
Beijing’s decades-long ‘soft-power’ push has never gained traction, particularly overseas. But with a blockbuster movie, video game, and AI breakthrough, could this be changing?
Ne Zha 2 has set a slew of box office records. Beijing Enlight Pictures
Beijing | Inside a glass-walled office in one of Beijing’s growing tech hubs, 32 video game developers are working around the clock to push out Havenhold, a multiplayer game in which a warrior monk scales the mystical Kunlun Mountain chain.
Leading this feverish development is Stephen Wang, 30, co-founder of Wolfpack Games Studio. Wang has just deployed a beta test to 4000 players and is juggling the waves of feedback.
Jessica SierNorth Asia correspondentJessica Sier is the North Asia Correspondent for The Australian Financial Review. She is based in Tokyo, Japan. Jessica has previously written on technology, global capital markets and economics. Connect with Jessica on Twitter. Email Jessica at jessica.sier@afr.com
