This year has seen a notable uptick in news about executives leaving gaming companies. Recently, it was reported that Xing Jun, former head of the Metaverse Research Center at miHoYo and leader of the "Reverse Entropy" AI team, officially launched his startup, Shanghai Bantu Technology, in February. Xing Jun graduated from the University of Science and Technology of China in 2012 and obtained his PhD from the University of Hong Kong in 2016. He then pursued a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Southern California before returning to China to work at miHoYo as a Lead Research Scientist. Throughout his tenure, he played a pivotal role in researching technologies related to virtual characters and other metaverse innovations, eventually becoming the team leader at miHoYo.
Xing Jun's new venture, Shanghai Bantu Technology, focuses on 3D virtual characters and collaborates with partners from well-known companies, including ByteDance. Notably, miHoYo's recent releases, such as "Genshin Impact," "Honkai: Star Rail," and "Honkai: Zero," have all integrated some aspects of AI-generated content (AIGC). Xing Jun's departure may significantly impact miHoYo's industrial processes.
Among miHoYo's titles, "Honkai: Star Rail" appears to feature AI technology most extensively. This is attributed to the game's development following the maturation of miHoYo's AI capabilities and a more structured production pipeline. David Jiang, the game's producer, has expressed an openness to incorporating AI tools in various aspects, including character behavior management, 3D modeling, and NPC dialogue.
He noted that while AI makes it easier to enhance artistic details, it also significantly boosts efficiency in generating NPC dialogue. Previously, creating a character's text design could take a month, but with AI, the team was able to prepare approximately 60,000 words of dialogue for the character "March Seven." Jiang aims to further harness AI to expand the volume of NPC interactions and ensure their dialogue remains varied and engaging.
MiHoYo's earlier titles have also adapted to AI advancements. For example, the character "Mo Yi" from "Tian Ding Events: Mo Yi" had to be recast due to a voice actor's unavailability, prompting miHoYo to employ AI voice synthesis technology developed by the Reverse Entropy team. This technology garnered significant attention for its lifelike quality, impressing players with its ability to bring characters to life.
However, there are differing opinions on the use of AI within the company. For instance, Li Zhenyu, producer of the newly released "Zero Zone," candidly stated that AI's role has been limited, primarily serving as a tool for programming assistance rather than creative input. He believes that when it comes to artistic elements, such as visual design, music, and voice acting, the team prefers to generate original content from their own imagination, emphasizing the unique artistic style of "Zero Zone" as a distinguishing feature from other miHoYo titles.
Despite these differing perspectives, the integration of AI in game development and publishing processes at miHoYo has become a standard practice. AI has already been incorporated into the publishing phase; for example, shortly after "Honkai: Star Rail" launched, miHoYo released its own AI generation tool called "Endless March Seven," which quickly gained traction on social media platforms.
Overall, AI has become deeply embedded in every facet of miHoYo's game development and publishing, playing an essential role in advancing its industrial capabilities. With Xing Jun's departure, the future trajectory of miHoYo's industrial processes and AI technology development may face some challenges.
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