Yamato Kaneko

Unity China’s latest update (v1.6.0) now supports publishing mini-games directly on Douyin (TikTok China). 𝗙𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵: China’s mini-game market hit ¥39.8B (~$5.5B) in 2024, nearly doubling year-on-year. Douyin’s mini-game revenue grew 130%, with paying users up 320%. 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆: Douyin mini-games run instantly in-app, no downloads, matching how people actually use their phones in China. 𝗘𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀: The new Unity integration trims package size, speeds up loading, and simplifies publishing. Cocos is Unity’s main competitor in China for mobile and mini-games, with strong presence in 2D/3D casual games and WeChat mini-games. It supports Douyin but doesn’t have Unity’s level of tooling or integration. Unreal Engine has limited use in China’s mobile market, mainly for a few high-fidelity flagship titles from major studios. It trails in broader mobile adoption and doesn’t play in the mini-game space. ✅ Unity leads in mid-core and casual mobile, now expanding into mini-games. ✅ Cocos leads in lightweight mobile and mini-games but is slower on Douyin. ✅ Unreal isn’t relevant for mini-games and lags in China’s mass mobile market. For developers, this offers a faster way to test and distribute games on China’s largest short video platform. For the industry, it’s another sign that Douyin is shifting from video to a game distribution platform. It also signals how mobile game distribution in China is moving beyond app stores into social platforms. Mobile game distribution in China is evolving quickly. Unity’s Douyin integration strengthens its position while competitors are slower to adapt (Cocos) or aren’t competing in this space (Unreal). Worth keeping an eye on. 🔁 Like, comment, repost, and follow me for clear, practical updates on China’s gaming and tech shifts. #Gaming #GameDev #China #Unreal #Unity

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Facial recognition. Big screens. Public shaming. That’s how one busy Chinese road crossing is “solving” jaywalking. Step out of line & your face is instantly broadcast on a giant digital screen for all to see. It’s authoritarian. It’s creepy. And it would never fly in most countries. But there’s actually a nugget of genius buried inside this dystopian mess: Real-time behaviour triggering real-time content. Imagine the equivalent in a workplace setting. If a site detects low PPE compliance, your screens could automatically ramp up content showing why safety gear matters. Clear, concise, repetitive nudges that persuasively influence behaviour. No shaming, just smarter screen content triggered by context. So while the Chinese example gets a hard 0/5 from me for implementation, the core idea gets a 3. Maybe even a 4 or 5, if it was done ethically & empathetically. This has real potential for how we think about dynamic screen content in safety-critical environments. What do you think? #SignsOfGenius #ScreensThatCommunicate #DigitalSignage #ScreenCloud #WorkplaceSafety #BehaviouralDesign #ContextIsKing

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🇭🇰 John MAK — Developer of Motion Sensing Technology, KellyJohn Studio 🇨🇦🤝🇪🇺 DECA Europe: www.dalerosevents.com/deca At UnitedXR Europe, John shared his journey from 🇭🇰 Hong Kong and his work on building an open-source motion sensing platform that empowers developers to create immersive, movement-driven experiences with ease. John MAK is developing a motion sensing solution designed for Roblox, UEFN, Unreal Engine, and Unity, with a bold vision: to make the motion-sensor algorithm so intuitive that even primary school students can build games on Roblox. By lowering technical barriers, his platform enables developers to create faster and publish across major ecosystems such as Apple App Store, Steam, and Fortnite. A key focus is accessibility and community—open technology that allows developers to build, customize, and innovate freely while accelerating game creation and experimentation. John also shared interest in collaborating with 🇨🇦 Ubisoft and Electronic Arts (EA) Vancouver 🇨🇦, particularly around motion-driven gameplay, multiplayer experiences, and next-generation interactive systems. About KellyJohn Studio: KellyJohn Studio focuses on developing motion sensing technologies that make game creation more accessible and intuitive. By supporting leading engines and platforms, the studio aims to democratize interactive development for creators of all ages and skill levels. Interview sponsored by: Aequilibrium Event host: UnitedXR Europe Media Partner: DALEROS DIGITAL 🇨🇦🤝🇪🇺 DECA Europe — Canada–Europe Innovation, Trade & Technology Alliance by DALEROS EVENTS 🇧🇪 DECA Belgium: www.dalerosevents.com/deca

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Japan’s SaaS ecosystem just reached another milestone: LayerX secured a $100M Series B led by TCV. The company is building AI-driven automation tools designed to scale globally, with expansion plans in Asia and North America already in motion. This investment reflects a growing trend of global investors engaging with Japanese startups at later stages, recognizing both product excellence and the international potential of SaaS built in Japan. For founders, it’s also a signal that global scaling is no longer optional—it’s an expectation. For venture capital, the case of LayerX is a reminder of the importance of cross-border capital, strategic alignment, and talent mobility. These elements will define how Japanese SaaS companies transition from strong domestic players to global category leaders. #VentureCapital #SaaS #LayerX #JapanStartups #GlobalExpansion Details: https://lnkd.in/gF25g-uR

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Coral Capital's Japanese YouTube Channel crossed 100,000 subscribers over the weekend. When we were just getting started, there was barely any content available for startups in Japan. I felt this firsthand as a founder here. I'd google to find unlimited information in English, and hardly anything in Japanese. So when I came to the VC side, that was one of the first things we wanted to change. We wanted to blast open the black box of VC / startups in Japan, hoping more information would equip people to grow larger companies, faster. Since being a founder, the Japan market has grown 10x. Content is abundant. AI is making it easer than ever to access information. But video is still under-explored. Text is still an important format for us but video is increasingly our bread and butter.

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“The Day the Data Got Legs” – Real-Time Data Meets Real-Time Action On a crisp autumn afternoon in New Kyoto Tech Park, the problem wasn’t the data. There was plenty of data. Sensors on every pole, camera feeds on every street, even the sidewalks whispered footstep patterns into the cloud. The problem was what to do with it - fast enough to matter. Then came HAL8122, BizzTech’s agentic AI designed to connect sensing to doing. At 1:12 PM, a food truck fire sparked near Building J. Not dramatic - but enough to flood the air with smoke and trigger crowd movement. Most cities would need five layers of notification, dispatch, and human intervention. HAL needed 1.4 seconds. It instantly: Detected the fire via heat signature and smoke particulates. Simulated its spread, wind direction, and impact on nearby pedestrian zones. Rerouted foot traffic using smart signage that adapted dynamically based on flow density. Informed HAL-TRANSIT to divert buses away from the affected intersection - before human dispatch even picked up the radio. Adjusted Building J’s HVAC intake valves to prevent smoke infiltration and initiated indoor air purification routines. Meanwhile, the digital twin of the area updated in real time. Emergency responders entered the 3D simulation to plan entry routes with thermal overlays and potential risk zones already marked. By 1:16 PM, the fire was out. Evacuation: smooth. Commuters: barely delayed. The fire chief reviewed the after-action dashboard and said: "I didn’t even have to give an order. The city moved like it had a nervous system." That’s the power of HAL. Real-time data is only useful when it meets real-time action. BizzTech’s platform makes this connection native - fusing live IoT feeds with autonomous digital twins that think, decide, and move the moment data arrives. Forget about dashboards that blink while you think. HAL agents operate in milliseconds, syncing urban systems, industrial networks, and digital spaces like a living, breathing organism. Next up: Securing the smart metaverse - how Agentic AI defends our digital cities and spaces. #UrbanMetaverse #AgenticAI #SmartCities #SmartSpaces

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NetEase tested millions of short videos. Most flopped completely. Then researchers built something that changed everything. 70% of videos got zero views. 87% of users ignored everything they saw. Sound familiar? Current recommendation engines fail when feedback is sparse. Researchers Junyu Cao and Yan Leng had a breakthrough. They created the "Adaptive Acquisition Tree" (AAT). Here's how it works: 📊 Groups users by demographics and behavior 🎯 Clusters videos by type (dance, comedy, education) 🔄 Continuously refines groups based on viewing time 📈 Adapts to changing preferences in real-time The results? Mind-blowing. AAT boosted viewing time by 30% to 100% in simulations. That's potentially doubling TikTok-style engagement. But here's the bigger picture. This isn't just about short videos. The same approach could transform: • Search engines • Advertising platforms • Content moderation • Task matching systems "It's the same goal: acquiring data to better understand the people on the platform," explains researcher Yan Leng. The key insight? Stop treating all users the same. Start with broad groups, then split into smaller clusters as you learn. This research shows AI recommendation systems are far from perfect. There's massive room for improvement. What platform do you think would benefit most from this adaptive approach? hashtag #AI hashtag #MachineLearning hashtag #RecommendationSystems 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲꞉ https://lnkd.in/g-zMRpHn …m

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One of the works we shared is UnrealLLM: Towards Highly Controllable and Interactable 3D Scene Generation by LLM-powered Procedural Content Generation, co-authored Song Tang and me, in collaboration with colleagues from HKUST(GZ) and HIT. The paper explores how procedural generation in game engines can be deeply integrated with the reasoning and instruction-following abilities of large language models. The resulting system enables creators to generate structured, interactive 3D scenes in Unreal Engine 5 with text, and includes: 1. A blueprint-style text specification system for describing objects, relationships, and mechanics 2. A multi-agent execution pipeline that coordinates content parsing, asset retrieval, and environment assembly 3. Style- and behavior-level control over generated environments, including physical simulation, pathfinding, and interactivity The work aims to provide a language-driven interface for prototyping and creating 3D content — not only lowering the barrier for creative exploration, but also offering a framework for grounded, modular scene generation. 📄 Full paper: https://lnkd.in/getUy33J  Always open to feedback and discussion. #ACL2025 #LLM #UnrealEngine #ProceduralContentGeneration #3DSceneUnderstanding #XGRIDS #AI4Content

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💥This episode is packed with the insights we've gained at PvX Partners, evaluating hundreds of games across puzzle, strategy, casual, and 4X games. Zhen Jie (ZJ) Sim breaks down what we’re seeing in LTV curves, payback windows, M1 ROAS thresholds, and genre-level monetization trends — all backed by cohort data via PvX Lambda. If you're trying to scale a game sustainably in 2025, this is worth your time. Kudos to Matej 🦩 Lancaric and the 2.5 gamers crew for keeping it sharp and fluff-free. 🎧Give it a listen. 🧠Learn more about Lambda here: https://lnkd.in/gX9rmkDX #MobileGaming #GameDev #UserAcquisition #GamingFinance #PvXLambda #CohortFinancing #ROAS

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Jensen Huang says every machine that moves will soon be autonomous "The future of industry is two factories: one for hardware, one for AI. Every industrial company will be an AI company — or it won't be industrial.. #0119 #nickgraceman

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>Your Secret Weapon for US Expansion is in Taipei< During the "LA Landing Taiwan" panel I moderated, I asked the MOEA's Dr. Chien-Cheng Tai about government support. His answer went far beyond grants; he described the government as an "invisible angel" for startups. His key insight for Taiwanese founders was to view government programs not as funding, but as strategic de-risking for your US launch. Here's the playbook he shared: >Funded Reconnaissance: The MOEA sends 20 startup teams to the US annually for a 3-month program with top-tier partners like UC Berkeley's SkyDeck. >>Insider Knowledge: This program is designed to help you understand complex US laws and regulations before you're on the ground. >>>Network Foundation: It facilitates the initial connections that are so hard to build from scratch. ....My takeaway: Don't just chase private capital. Leveraging this "invisible angel" first can give you an incredible, de-risked advantage before you even talk to a single US investor. #LALandingTaiwan #ThoughtLeadership #TaiwanStartups #GlobalExpansion #VentureCapital

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Still think “Made in China” means cheap? That used to be true. But it’s not the full story anymore. Today, companies like DJI, BYD, and Anker Innovations are winning globally — not because they’re cheaper, but because they build great products people actually want. From what I see working in Shenzhen, the real difference is simple: execution. Here, the loop is compressed: idea → prototype → iteration → production Everything happens faster. Feedback cycles are tighter. Products get better, quickly. And this matters even more now, as AI moves beyond software. AI needs hardware. And hardware needs execution. 🎥 In Episode 3 of Inside China Tech, I share why the next wave of innovation may be defined less by ideas — and more by how fast you can build, test, and improve. 💬 Curious what you think — in today’s world, what matters more: ideas or execution? #AI #Robotics #MadeInChina #ChinaTech #Shenzhen #Execution #Innovation #Hardware #DeepTech #StartupEcosystem #ProductThinking #FutureOfAI #TechTrends #GlobalInnovation

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On May 26, 2025, Suzhou Lexiang Intelligent Technology, a home intelligent robot startup, announced the completion of a billion yuan angel+round of financing, led by Jinqiu Fund and co invested by Monolith and other old shareholders. This is the second round of financing completed by the company within three months, with a total angel round amount of nearly 300 million yuan. The funds will be used for team expansion and mass production development of the product platform. LeXiang Technology was founded at the end of 2024 by Guo Renjie, former CEO of Zhuimi China, focusing on the development of small embodied intelligent robots for households. At present, the first batch of product platforms from LeXiang Technology has completed research and development - a home robot Z-Bot that is suitable for indoor scenes, about 50 centimeters high, and can move throughout the house. It adopts a personified appearance; Another one is the outdoor robot Z-Bot, which can cover outdoor scenes. (Monolith, Emergence of Intelligence) #innovation #technology #creativity #motivation #futurism #sustainability #ai #robots #homerobots #startups #ZBot #outdoorrobots #marketing #Smallrobots

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“We don’t really think about pipelines anymore... SDP just handles it.” SEGA powers real-time gaming insights with Spark Declarative Pipelines 🎮 💰 4x cost reduction ⚡️ <5 min latency 🚀 40K events/sec across 40M+ players

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Short/Mid-form video: The China short and mid-form video market is gradually entering a mature phase characterized by moderating user growth and peaking time-spent metrics after years of unprecedented expansion that fundamentally reshaped users' media consumption patterns. Yet we still see room for monetization efficiency improvement. 1) Regulation/policy updates on livestreaming/eCommerce industry are key watch points. Recent regulation on tax, relating to traffic acquisition and marketing spending could have a negative impact on merchants' advertising budget, we will watch for details. Given the above, we expect Kuaishou's advertising and eCommerce business growth to slow down into 2026E yet still outpace the industry (GSe: Kuaishou ad/GMV +10%/+11% yoy in 2026E). 2) Bili occupies a unique and differentiated competitive position within China's video platform landscape, distinct from SFV players like Kuaishou and Douyin on the back of its high-quality mid-form content and community-driven engagement, in our view. This differentiation creates sustainable competitive advantages and growth dynamics for Bili with its DAU/MAU expansion accelerating to +7%/+8% yoy in 2025. In addition, we believe Bili's traffic is meaningfully under-monetized vs. peers, especially in terms of advertising revenue per MAU metric (Rmb27 for Bili vs. Rmb112 for Kuaishou in 2025), and we think further monetization efficiency enhancement could arise from ad load improvement and eCPM increase on better algorithm.

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Hollow Knight: Silksong: Product & GTM After years of anticipation, Hollow Knight: Silksong finally launched this week and it’s not just a gaming story, it’s a case study in product development, GTM discipline, and the power of patience. 1. Development Timeframe: Nearly 7 years in development (2017–2025). Team Size: A tiny Australian indie team (Team Cherry, just 3 developers). Budget: Self-funded, lean, and nowhere close to the 9-figure budgets of AAA studios estimates suggest under $5M in total costs. Philosophy: Build slow, polish relentlessly, keep scope ambitious (200+ enemies, 40+ bosses, 100 save points). Lesson: Sometimes quality at your own pace outlives the “ship fast” mantra. 2. GTM Strategy Philosophy: Minimal marketing, maximum anticipation. Silence turned into suspense. Process: Surprise release, no early review copies, and a $20 price point. Distribution across Steam, Nintendo, Xbox (incl. Game Pass), PlayStation. Timeline: Hype nurtured over years through community-driven speculation and organic wishlist growth (peaked at 5.2M wishlists on Steam, the highest ever). Budget: Virtually $0 in traditional ad spend the community was the marketing. Lesson: In the right market, community goodwill compounds better than paid ads. 3. Success Commercial: 560K players in 24h, generating ~$16.7M on Steam alone. 500K concurrent players, outperforming major AAA betas. #1 best-seller on Steam, Switch, and Switch 2 eShops. Critical: 100/100 on Metacritic. 95% positive on Steam with 20K+ reviews. “Overwhelmingly Positive” consensus despite zero pre-release reviews. Cultural: Launch demand crashed Steam, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo eShops. A true “internet-breaking” moment. 4. Learnings (India Perspective) Small teams can punch above their weight, India’s indie gaming studios and SaaS startups often have <20 people. Silksong proves that tight focus + polish can outshine giant budgets. Community-first GTM works in India too, we’ve seen this with Ludo King in gaming, Zerodha in fintech, and Zomato in consumer tech. Organic adoption + trust beats ad-heavy launches. Accessible pricing is key, $20 in the West is ~₹1,600; in India, localized pricing will define reach. Subscription-led or freemium-first GTM could replicate the same “democratized” scale. Silence ≠ weakness, Indian founders often feel pressure to constantly announce. Silksong shows that quiet execution + loud delivery can create breakout moments. Global > Local mindset, building with a global-first design philosophy from India (in gaming or SaaS) can generate compounding goodwill and international traction. #gamedevelopment #venturecapital #funding #gamedev

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Global Accessibility Awareness Day, a reminder that true accessibility transcends sight and sound. At Haptic, we’re on a mission to build a universal language of touch: from guiding hundreds through SXSW with nothing but vibrations to imagining a future where every interface speaks through haptic cues. As the European Accessibility Act (EAA) raises the bar for accessible design, now is the time to integrate tactile feedback into products that empower every user, regardless of ability. Check out the new post by Devin Wangrycht on how Haptic is improving lives and changing the way we move through touch. How will you bring touch into your next digital experience?

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building a startup in HK vs what people think: expectation: - meetings in central skyscrapers - investor lunches - sexy tech ecosystem reality: - working from home in 400 sqft - instant noodles for dinner - explaining to family why i quit a real job the HK startup scene is small but scrappy everyone knows everyone support is real but so is the competition wouldn't trade it though the density means you can meet 5 potential clients in one day try doing that in a bigger market

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🇰🇷 Korean Hybrid Casual Studio Peb just raised a $690K seed round led by CRIT Ventures, Inc., the investment arm of Com2us Corporation 🕺🏻 Highlights? 👇🏻 • Founded by Seok Kang, ex CPO at TREEPLLA, where he helped scale Cat Snack Bar to 40M+ downloads • Co -founded by Cheolyong Kim, bringing strong genre and product depth from Treeplla and Maf Games • Focused on hybrid casual with progression driven monetization • Publishing deal already signed with Treeplla • Debut title Dig & Roll targeting global launch in H1'26 ⚡️ What stands out most is the speed. The round closed just two months after founding, decided at the first IR meeting. In a tough market, that says a lot about team credibility and execution trust. Hybrid casual keeps attracting capital where proven teams meet fast iteration and clear monetization logic. Peb is one to watch. Congrats to the TEAM! 🕺🏻 Full Cover? 👇🏻

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