- Perfect World's China-France teams reap the rewards with cross-cultural 
collaborations

On the evening of January 25, 2020, the 47th Annual Annie Awards, celebrated as 
"the Oscars in Animation World" took place in Los Angeles, California, the 
United States (US). Unruly Heroes, a side-scrolling game with multiple levels 
co-developed by China-based Perfect World and a French studio based on 
adventures of Journey to the West won the 47th Annie Awards for Best Character 
Animation in Video Game.

Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20200203/2704378-1 

It is learned that Annie Awards is one of the highest honors in the field of 
animation globally. Started in 1972 by ASIFA-Hollywood, a branch member of the 
International Animated Film Society (ASIFA) in Los Angeles, California, the US, 
it takes place at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) each year to 
bring the best animation and game products rolled out in the preceding year 
together. The event is attended by a large group of professionals from 
animation and game communities worldwide and from Hollywood. 

There were four finalists contending for the 47th Annie Awards for Best 
Character Animation in Video Game, including the award-winner Unruly Heroes and 
Gears 5 by Microsoft Corporation, Kingdom Hearts III and Sinclair Snake: Museum 
Mischief by the Japanese game company Square Enix. Since the list of nominees 
was unveiled in early December 2019, the sector has been filled with 
predictions as to who would eventually take home the award. When Unruly Heroes 
was presented with the award, it is hailed as a well-deserved success.

Perfect World CEO Dr. Robert H. Xiao attended the event and said that it is a 
great honor for Unruly Heroes becoming shortlisted and winning the award 
eventually. The success is derived from the dedication of the development team 
to finding ways to promote traditional Chinese culture globally in an 
innovative way. As a world-class game produced by Perfect World which 
integrates global resources and takes Chinese culture as a core element, Unruly 
Heroes capitalizes on international visions and technical performance to 
reimagine the images of Tang Monk and his disciples in a brightly-colored 
magical fantasy, marking a successful exploration of the global transmission of 
traditional Chinese classical IPs.

According to Lu Yang, the producer of Unruly Heroes, they chose Journey to the 
West for its classical nature and high quality. The traditional IP contains a 
vast system of world views, diverse cultures, and distinctive and lively 
characters full of dramatic conflicts, so it is a fairly good theme for game 
creation and development of games. During the development process, members from 
the French studio fully demonstrated immense creativity and passion and 
provided countless creative and interesting ideas during development process. 
Therefore, their efforts have instilled more international vibes into the novel 
and made it more true to life. For this reason, players from different cultural 
backgrounds find it easier to relate to traditional Chinese fairy tales and 
develop a fondness for them.

The cultural inclusiveness and creativity of Unruly Heroes have recorded 
remarkable market performance since its launch. Notably, players have provided 
fairly positive feedback on its images and animation design. At present, the 
game has attracted a large number of players worldwide, 80% of whom are based 
overseas. Truth be told, it has kindled the interest of many foreign players 
who had no idea of this traditional Chinese fairy tale in the past. 

Apart from the renowned Annie Awards, everyone seemed to be raving about Unruly 
Heroes immediately after it was launched at Microsoft's E3 2017 press 
conference. In addition, it was nominated for Best PC Game and Best Visual Art 
at the Ping Awards 2018, and Most Anticipated Game at the Unity Awards 2018. It 
brought home the Best Console Game at the Barcelona Games World and Most 
Anticipated Online Game 2018 of Sina. It also received high ratings across 
dozens of media platforms: 9/10 on GameSpace, 8.8/10 on IGN España and 9.7 on 
TapTap. The game was also recommended by a column report on China Daily front 
page. 

Insiders have pointed out that Unruly Heroes could win these renowned awards 
from international review committees primarily due to its cultural 
inclusiveness and diverse experience. It clearly spells out a fact: a product 
will only be able to provide world-class quality products when it retains 
inherent elements of a culture while incorporating creativity. If Chinese 
companies are going to successfully introduce products with Chinese elements to 
the world in the future, Unruly Heroes would be the most up-to-date example to 
follow, in a manner of speaking. 

Perfect World has paved the way for the birth of more products like Unruly 
Heroes through upholding a global strategy over a long period of time, said Dr. 
Robert H. Xiao. In the coming days, Perfect World is set to roll out more 
high-quality popular entertainment products featuring elements of Chinese 
culture for global players to facilitate the strategy of Chinese culture going 
global. 


SOURCE  Perfect World Co., Ltd.

Image Attachments Links:

   Link: https://iop.asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=356880

   Caption: Perfect World CEO Dr. Robert H. Xiao (second from the right) and 
representatives of the team of Unruly Heroes