Reporter |
Editor | Shu Qi
The success of《黑神话：悟空》has sparked a wave of enthusiasm in the domestic game industry for 3A masterpieces, with many game companies betting on traditional cultural IPs.
In February, CreateAI, a company founded by Chen Mo, unveiled the first in-game PV of its open-world RPG《金庸群侠传》, which is based on a classic IP. The PV showcases the game’s combat mechanics and is a significant milestone for the project.
This achievement is in line with Chen Mo’s expectations.
In 2024, CreateAI’s predecessor, Tusen Future, announced its transition from the autonomous driving industry to the game industry, with plans to develop films and games based on《金庸群侠传》and《三体》IPs, as well as entering the AIGC market.
As one of the co-founders of Tusen Future, Chen Mo is venturing into the game industry with CreateAI. In an interview, Chen Mo revealed that the company’s game development team currently has around 200 members.
However, CreateAI’s game business has experienced setbacks in the past.
With the “金庸” and “三体” IPs, CreateAI is an outlier in the industry.
The company has resources and capabilities, but still faces challenges.
In 2024, CreateAI set up several teams in different cities, but many of them failed. In early 2025, the company disbanded its art team in Guangzhou.
Chen Mo told the reporter that the reason for the failure was simple: the results did not meet expectations.
The transition from the autonomous driving industry to the game industry was more challenging than Chen Mo had anticipated.
Especially with《金庸群侠传》being an open-world RPG game, the requirements for art and martial arts are higher.
Last year, the development team visited famous mountains and rivers, using scanning technology to recreate over 100 ancient buildings.
Chen Mo reflected that the company cannot rush the process.
3A games are difficult to make, and one of the biggest challenges is the massive investment required.
According to data from Tianfeng Securities, the Chinese game market is expected to reach 169 billion yuan in 2026.
However, the development of 3A games requires more than just investment.
In August 2025, CreateAI built its own motion capture studio and formed a team that combines live-action performance, 3D animation, and 2D animation.
Chen Mo stated that this decision was made to ensure the company’s production quality.
For example,《金庸群侠传》has a unique requirement, with over 500 martial arts moves.
After completing the motion capture, there is still a lot of post-production work to be done.
Aside from the cost, the success of a game is also uncertain.
Chen Mo is confident in the market, however.
After the success of《黑神话：悟空》, the expectations for domestic 3A masterpieces have increased.
In the 2024 game sales rankings,《黑神话：悟空》accounted for nearly 90% of the total sales.
According to Chen Mo,《黑神话：悟空》has made an important contribution to the Chinese game industry, demonstrating the potential of the Chinese market.
In the future,《金庸群侠传》plans to target hardcore gamers, releasing only on PC and PS platforms.
However, traditional IPs have a limited lifespan, which is a challenge that《金庸群侠传》must face.
Chen Mo believes that young people are not uninterested in martial arts, but rather, the derivative works have not been well-made.
In fact, Tusen Future’s genetic advantage lies in AI research and development, which is now being applied to CreateAI’s AIGC business.
However, Chen Mo believes that the combination of AI and game development is still premature.
After observing the industry for some time, Chen Mo believes that AI may participate in the production of mobile games, web games, or short animations in the near future, but its involvement in 3A-level games or commercial-level animations and films is still limited.
This means that CreateAI will need to continue investing more manpower to polish its IP works and patiently wait for the next “hit”.
