Dear Legend Hunters,
We are proud to offer you the English translation of an authoritative news report from Sina Esports (China) written by Luo Hao, dated March 31, 2026, at 9:41 AM:
From Utility-AI to JEPA: Legend Battles Attempts to Rewrite the "Intelligent Foundation" of Game NPCs
**Anchoring at the Technological Frontier, Reshaping the Paradigm of Game AI Development**
On February 28, 2026, the "Gathering Intelligence for the Future" — "Sci-Fi +" Integrated Development Forum, part of the 2026 Zhongguancun Forum & China Science Fiction Convention, was successfully held at Shougang Park. Hosted by the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission, the Administrative Committee of Zhongguancun Science Park, the People's Government of Shijingshan District, and Shougang Group Co., Ltd., and organized by the Beijing Digital Creative Industry Association, the event brought together top global science fiction creators, scientists, industry leaders, and ecosystem partners. Focusing on the deep integration of science fiction with cutting-edge fields—such as artificial intelligence, digital twins, aerospace technology, and cultural creativity—the forum emerged as a landmark event leading cross-disciplinary innovation in the global "Sci-Fi + Technology" landscape.
Eric MERGY—AI Advisor for the French Government's "Smart City" initiative, former Vice President at SAP, co-founder of a global multilingual electronic navigation mapping service with 50 million downloads, and CTO & founder of Hanxiang Technology (Legend Battles app on Steam)—was invited to attend and deliver a keynote speech titled "From Utility-AI to JEPA: Endowing Game NPCs with a Sense of Real Life." Approaching the subject from three dimensions—technological evolution, industry practice, and future trends—he systematically analyzed the developmental trajectory of next-generation game AI. Concurrently, he showcased the cutting-edge achievements of the company's flagship Battle Royale title, *Legend Battles* (Chinese title: *Ni Jing Tu Po*), thereby offering an international perspective and a technical roadmap for the industrialization of science fiction gaming in China.
In his speech, Eric MERGY pointed out that the majority of mainstream game NPCs today are built upon Utility-AI. The core logic of this approach drives behavioral decision-making through mechanisms based on "need scoring" and "instant response." Over the past decade or so, this paradigm has effectively supported the increasing complexity of game interactions; however, as the scale of open worlds continues to expand and player expectations for immersive experiences rise, its limitations are becoming increasingly apparent. These limitations include a lack of deep environmental understanding, insufficient long-term planning capabilities, highly predictable behavioral patterns, and significantly escalating computational costs within large-scale systems. Eric stated, "Mainstream Utility AI remains, at its core, a rule-driven system—one ill-equipped to support the immersive, future-oriented open worlds of tomorrow. Game AI must evolve from mere 'reactive mechanisms' into 'cognitive systems'—shifting its focus from simply executing logic to truly understanding the world."
** Legend Battles vast hyper-realistic world video on stage **
To address this critical technical bottleneck, Eric MERGY highlighted the Joint Embedding Predictive Architecture (JEPA)—a concept originally proposed by Turing Award laureate Yann LeCun—during his presentation. As a novel self-supervised learning framework, JEPA constructs a "world model" to predict environmental structures and trends within a latent space, thereby endowing AI agents with the capacity to understand and reason about complex systems. Unlike mainstream generative AI models, JEPA does not rely on the direct generation of images or text; instead, it focuses on learning abstract structures and modeling causal relationships, thereby enabling more efficient and highly generalizable intelligent decision-making mechanisms. Eric emphasized, "The core of JEPA lies in understanding, not generation. It equips NPCs with long-term memory, environmental awareness, and predictive behavioral capabilities—serving as a pivotal technical foundation for the evolution of virtual characters into true 'digital life forms'."
**Forging "Engineering-Grade Open Worlds": Constructing Realistic Environments for AI Evolution**
Focusing on the practical application of these technologies, Eric MERGY introduced *Legend Battles*—a next-generation Extraction Battle Royale title developed in-house by Hanxiang Technology. Built upon Unreal Engine 5.6, this project features an ultra-scale open world known as "Bellona"—spanning an expansive 400 square kilometers, meticulously crafted 100% by human artists, and featuring absolutely zero generative AI content. This world not only boasts cinematic-quality visual fidelity but also integrates engineering-grade spatial structures and urban logic, creating a complex systemic environment that supports AI learning and evolution. Eric emphasizes: "We are not merely 'making maps'; rather, we are constructing a 'digital world system' that is intelligible to AI and capable of sustainable operation. Without a foundation of authentic world structures, it is impossible to give birth to truly human-like intelligence." Within this environment, NPCs undergo a comprehensive upgrade—spanning everything from perception to decision-making—facilitated by the JEPA architecture; they now possess capabilities for environmental comprehension, tactical reasoning, historical memory, and collective coordination. Concurrently, the game establishes a complete AI ecosystem encompassing combat, economics, and social behaviors, endowing the virtual world with the ecological characteristic of "self-organizing operation."
** Legend Battles hyper-realistic battlefields video on stage **
Eric Mergy points out that the technological trajectory of *Legend Battles* serves not only to innovate the gaming experience but also holds significant value for cross-industry extension. The project incorporates key methodologies from smart city planning and industrial digital twins—such as geographic information modeling, infrastructure logic, and spatial flow mechanisms—into the construction of its sci-fi world, thereby achieving a deep integration of engineering technology and creative content. He states: "Science fiction should not merely be about imagining the future; it should serve as a proving ground for validating it. Through digital twins and AI, we can simulate complex systems within a virtual environment—an endeavor that will have a profound impact on the development of cities, industries, and society at large."
** Legend Battles hyper-realistic battlefields video on stage **
In terms of its economic model, *Legend Battles* introduces an innovative "Play-to-Own" mechanism. Zhang Jianglin, President of Hanxiang Technology, emphasized: "Leveraging a closed-loop ecosystem integrated with the STEAM platform, *Legend Battles* enables players to acquire accumulable digital assets throughout their engagement. Concurrently, an AI system participates in resource allocation and dynamic regulation to maintain the overall ecological balance. The core of this model lies in transforming the game from a 'content consumption product' into a 'continuously operating digital system,' thereby driving the user's evolution from a mere participant into a co-creator."
** Jianglin ZHANG, President, CEO and founder of Hanxiang Technology **
In his concluding remarks, Eric MERGY offered a high-level industry perspective on future development: "The future of science fiction is not merely about what we watch, but rather with whom we interact within the digital realm. AI is transforming NPCs from tools into 'symbiotic entities'—evolving them from mere characters into living beings. We are shifting from 'developing games' to 'nurturing worlds.' The core competitiveness of the future will reside not only in content production capabilities but, more importantly, in the ability to construct complex digital ecosystems." It is reported that Hanxiang Technology will continue to advance the R&D of intelligent systems centered on JEPA, accelerating technological breakthroughs in highly intelligent NPCs and hyper-realistic digital worlds, thereby empowering sci-fi industry to achieve leapfrog development within the global competitive landscape.
** Interview of Legend Battles CTO, with China News Service, China's First Press Service **
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