Bilibili World 2025 (BW2025), one of Asia’s major ACGN (Animation, Comics, Games, and Novels) conventions, took place from July 11 to 14 at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai. Bringing together over 700 exhibitors, the event was a summer celebration of gaming for pop culture fans in China.
Major game developers including Tencent, NetEase, miHoYo, and others unveiled a lineup of popular titles. Crowds gathered at booths for Tencent’s Delta Force: Hawk Ops, NetEase’s Beyond The Realm, Kuro Games’ Wuthering Waves, miHoYo’s Honkai: Star Rail, Hypergryph’s Arknights, and hit titles from Sony and Ubisoft. Live demos, competitions, and community events were held throughout the massive venue.
Game creator Hideo Kojima took to the main stage to promote Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, an action-adventure game released last month by Kojima Productions and Sony Interactive Entertainment. Kojima expressed gratitude for the support of Chinese players, saying that the original Death Stranding has surpassed 20 million players worldwide. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach will soon release a Chinese voice-over update via a free patch for the PS5 version, Kojima said.
Also in attendance was famed Japanese manga author Kafka Asagiri, known for Bungou Stray Dogs. He signed autographs and met fans, thanking Chinese readers for their support of his novels, manga, and artbooks. Many fans had come specifically to meet Asagiri and were thrilled to speak with him in person.
Another highly anticipated Chinese title, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, is a single-player action RPG that blends late-Ming Dynasty history, southwestern Sichuanese culture, and Lovecraftian horror into a “soulslike” dark fantasy experience. Its nearly 200-square-meter booth featured ancient Chinese-style architecture, drawing long lines of players eager to try the game demo, take on challenging bosses, and explore in-game scenes. The game will launch on July 24.
