Since pre-orders began, "Phantom Blade Zero" has received enthusiastic support from players, with its popularity and reputation continuing to rise. It reached the top of both the Steam China and global bestseller charts within just one hour. Producer Liang Qiwei published a lengthy article thanking all players and reflecting on the deep collaborative journey with Donnie Yen.
Tomorrow, August 18th at 10 AM, Sony will host a dedicated State of Play event for "Phantom Blade Zero." Liang Qiwei and Donnie Yen will jointly present to global players, detailing core content such as the game's storyline, world-building, and combat system. The entire demonstration will last over 18 minutes. This presentation will be broadcast live in English to global players, leveraging the stage of top-tier global game distribution to showcase the unique charm of Chinese wuxia culture to the world. Liang Qiwei has also personally written the commentary subtitles for the Chinese version.
Let's look forward to tomorrow's "Phantom Blade Zero" SOP special presentation. See you all there tomorrow!
Don't forget to watch STATE OF PLAY tomorrow!
Dear players:
Hello everyone!
Pre-orders for "Phantom Blade Zero" have been open for five days, with results far exceeding expectations. For this, I express my heartfelt gratitude to all friends who support "Phantom Blade Zero"! This is a vote of confidence from players, and we will do our utmost to deliver an excellent game product.
The news of our collaboration with Donnie Yen has particularly sparked interest, with many memes flooding social media. The character Moyuan, played by Brother Dan, is a carefully crafted role. As a powerful hidden boss in the game, he will only appear after players undergo a series of explorations and trials. We greatly look forward to everyone's encounters with Moyuan in the game!
I still remember my first meeting with Brother Dan, his pride and passion for kung fu films, and his strong desire to innovate and evolve. He was involved in game development very early on—over twenty years ago, he directed the opening CG for Capcom's "Onimusha 3." Now, we finally have the opportunity to tell a Chinese wuxia story together within a game.
In player discussions, some have expressed concerns about "celebrity endorsements." I fully understand these worries, as "celebrity endorsements" carry labels that core players might not appreciate, representing a risk of diluting the game's "character" and "tone." Amidst the hype brought by celebrities, will players' genuine needs remain at the core?
Here, I emphasize again: this collaboration is not another instance of a "celebrity commercially endorsing a game."
Everythinggj we do is to create better game products for players, not to put the cart before the horse. Brother Dan not only participated in facial and motion capture but also invited Teacher Chen Hao to polish the Chinese voice acting for Moyuan, and personally completed the character's English voice acting. As Creative Supervisor, he provided numerous suggestions and opinions. Later, he also brought in Teacher Yan Hua to choreograph martial arts for complex scenes.
Over the past forty years, Donnie Yen has crafted a diverse array of iconic screen personas. From Grandmaster Ip Man and Beggar Sect's Qiao Feng to police officer Ma Jun, assassin Cain, and the blind warrior from Star Wars, these distinct characters all belong to one man, yet feel remarkably cohesive in the public consciousness. Brother Dan's action style, transcending borders and eras, unifies these images.
What "Phantom Blade Zero" strives to present is a fusion of the most traditional Jianghu martial world with bizarre steampunk, human augmentation, and even a post-apocalyptic-inspired fictional worldview. Navigating between the new and the old, inheriting while innovating, upholding tradition while surprising with novelty—this is our shared vision.
Through our collaboration with Brother Dan, we have also continuously improved ourselves. Our internal action director, Yang Liu, and his Xingfu Feiyang team, fully absorbed Brother Dan's interpretation of Chinese kung fu. They constantly explored the deep integration of kung fu with gameplay, combat systems, and motion capture production pipelines. Fighting alongside combat designers and animators for over a thousand days and nights, they designed and produced many unique game action performances that make us proud.
This "translation" process was accomplished with almost no prior references or precedents, which was no easy feat. Previously, we have shown in other interviews how sword formations, drunken swordplay, and lion dances were transformed from traditional prototypes into game elements. As I expressed in my IGN interview, we aim to build a motion production pipeline suitable for Chinese martial arts from scratch, capturing the unique charm of Chinese kung fu distinct from Japanese or Western styles. Simultaneously, we translate this into input feedback, impact sensation, camera work, and other game design aspects, ultimately creating battle experiences that get players' blood pumping.
Tomorrow morning at 10:00, during the dedicated STATE OF PLAY event hosted by Sony for "Phantom Blade Zero," Brother Dan will first introduce the concept of "Kungfu Punk" to global players, followed by my live introduction of the game's story, world, combat system, and more. The livestream will last approximately 18 minutes, and the full video will subsequently be released on major platforms.
I believe this may further enrich the significance of this collaboration: on a stage watched by global players, we will directly promote and convey the unique charm of Chinese wuxia culture to the world.
The livestream and video were recorded in English and translated into multilingual subtitles based on the English script. However, I later offered to provide Chinese subtitles myself. These Chinese subtitles are the original text of my English speech, so they may convey the intended meaning more accurately than my live spoken lines.
Everyone, remember to tune in on time tomorrow!
Producer of "Phantom Blade Zero", Founder of S-Games
Liang Qiwei (Soulframe)