Tencent Holdings, which operates the world’s leading platform of video gaming development, publishing and operations, is exploring expanding the application of game-related technologies to approach real-world problems.
“Our core goal is to make game technologies produce richer social value and create greater technological breakthroughs for broader industries,” Deng Dafu, assistant general manager of the R&D Efficiency and Capability Department of Tencent Interactive Entertainment Group, told media outlets during a research tour at Tencent on July 12.
Since August 2021, Tencent Games started to empower the real economy and society by leveraging a series of technical capabilities it accumulated in the gaming industry.
The new application scenarios of gaming technologies range from digital cultural protection, industrial simulation to smart city development.
The digital restoration of the Great Wall is amongst Tencent’s many gaming technology projects. Using photogrammetry, the game engine, Programmed Content Generation (PCG) technology, and Cloud Gaming, Tencent Games digitally restored part of the Xifengkou section of the Great Wall in millimeter-level precision.
In addition, Tencent Games and Tencent Cloud partnered with BaoSteel Co. Ltd. to build a holographic glasses-free 3D full-fidelity digital factory with Real-time Cloud Rendering, Motion Capture and other game technologies, to help improve manufacturing efficiency through comprehensive planning and evaluation.
Tencent Games also participated in developing China’s domestically produced Full Flight Simulator using physically based lighting and rendering technologies, and is dedicated to empowering astronomical observations in the Chasing All Transients Constellation Hunters (CATCH) program with its AI learning algorithm.
These efforts in integrating the virtual and real world reflect the company’s new initiative in driving innovations in sustainable social values and promoting the in-depth integration of digital technologies and the real economy.
Founded in 1998, Tencent offers a wide range of products and services, such as instant messaging service, online gaming, cloud computing, advertising, and fintech.
The high-tech giant operates China’s most dominant social media platform, WeChat, with over 1 billion monthly active users. It also published several of the world’s most popular video games, like “Honor of Kings” and “PUBG MOBILE.”
The company has been listed on the stock exchange of Hong Kong since 2004 and now ranks 132nd among the Fortune Global 500 companies, earning a revenue of 560.1 billion yuan (US$82.9 billion) in 2021, up 16% from the year before.
The company’s focus shifted from “2C (consumers),” to “2C” plus “2B,” or services and business, in 2018, according to Zhong Xiangping, vice president of Tencent and president of Tencent Intelligent Mobility and Transportation.
“What Tencent has accumulated in the consumer internet ecosystem over the years is building up our strength in developing the industrial internet and providing solutions for other sectors,” Zhong added.
To better help their partners’ evolution in the industrial internet, Tencent has attached greater importance to basic research in cutting-edge areas. Its R&D investment has grown by more than 30% annually and the company increased the number of R&D personnel by 41% last year.