Three Days, Eighteen Talks, One Question: Is ChinaJoy Still Just a Gaming Expo?

This article reflects on the evolution of ChinaJoy, which began in 2004 as one of China's few major gaming expos, with attendees queuing to try games, ShowGirls at World of Warcraft booths, and cosplayers posing in front of Final Fantasy posters. Twenty years later, in 2026, ChinaJoy still serves as the annual offline gathering for young gamers, but it has also become a meeting point for the tech and digital entertainment industries. Over the past three years, AI has shifted from a lab concept to a standard production tool, and embodied intelligence and new consumer electronics are expanding possibilities. Visitors now include developers, AI engineers, hardware entrepreneurs, and investors in addition to players. To capture the real dynamics, 36Kr is partnering with the ChinaJoy 'Vision Future' frontier tech zone, setting up a live broadcast studio on site. Over three days, there will be eighteen conversations with entrepreneurs, technical leaders, industry operators, and academic experts, covering AI gaming, AI content, frontier consumer electronics, and other tracks. The goal is to present genuine industry trends and real problems, not press release recitations. The event will be held from August 1 to August 3, 2026, at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre, Hall E6, in the Vision Future zone, and can be watched via the '36Kr Games' live stream. This article was first published by '36Kr Games'.