Movies, Games, Anime: Redefining the Fanverse in the Gen Z Era | Asia Summit 2025

Panelists and Credentials

• Maureen Fan: Co-founder/CEO of Baobab Studios (10 Emmys, animation/VR); former VP of Games at Zynga.
• Kun Kun Gao: Co-founder of Crunchyroll (anime streaming) and Forge (gaming loyalty); recently relocated to Hong Kong.
• Patrick Lee: CEO of Rotten Tomatoes since 2000; co-founder Sin Lee started the platform out of a need to review Jackie Chan films.
• Kevin Lin: Co-founder of Twitch (sold to Amazon in 2014); currently developing games at Meta Theory.

Gen Z Fandom Definitions and Trends

• Identity and Power: 2025 fandom is defined as belonging to a community that grants fans power over creators, shifting from passive consumption to active co-creation and influence.
• Escapism and Belonging: Fandom serves as a refuge from global negativity, offering inclusive, non-divisive communities where diverse groups can bond instantly over shared IP.
• Transmedia Integration: True fandom exists when IP integrates seamlessly across games, films, and books; fans reject "watered down" adaptations that treat different mediums as isolated silos.
• Social vs. Content Quality: On platforms like Roblox, "quality" is defined by the social experience and collaboration tools rather than high-fidelity visuals; Gen Z prioritizes the ability to play together over the aesthetic output.

Platform-Specific Insights

• Rotten Tomatoes: The "Certified Fresh" seal (≥75%) was a pivotal business decision that allowed studios to market high scores in trailers and posters, reinforcing the platform's cultural dominance.
• Twitch Evolution: The platform's core is the "human campfire" connection rather than the game itself; the #1 content category is now "talking head" streams, proving direct creator-to-audience monetization (subscriptions) supersedes ad models.
• Baobab Studios Strategy: Acquires rights to top Roblox games to create transmedia franchises (film/TV), emphasizing that successful adaptation requires listening to the core audience rather than imposing external creative control.
• Content Creation Shift: Western audiences are moving away from "get-rich-quick" loot box models toward authentic storytelling, evidenced by the success of lower-budget, high-quality titles like Black Myth: Wukong.

Global Innovation and Market Dynamics

• Asian Creative Dominance: The success of anime, K-dramas, and K-pop stems from an authentic, creator-driven pipeline (e.g., manga-to-animation) that mirrors the modern creator economy, contrasting with the collective, committee-driven West.
• Theatrical vs. Streaming: K-Pop Demon Hunters achieved viral success via Netflix due to global accessibility for children; theatrical releases for original animated IP face high barriers for opening weekends without pre-existing brand recognition.
• Adaptation Success Factors: Successful adaptations (e.g., One Piece on Netflix) require direct creator collaboration, authenticity to the source material, and sufficient budget to match the visual language of the original IP.
• Gaming Demographics: Roblox (380 million monthly active users) has surpassed Netflix in user count, with 58% of its user base being children, signaling a massive shift in audience power to Gen Z/Alpha.

Future Outlook and Business Opportunities

• AI Democratization: AI tools will explode creativity by decoupling storytelling from technical skills (drawing/shooting), allowing new creators to produce high-quality content without traditional barriers to entry.
• Curation Crisis: With AI potentially increasing content volume by 100x-1000x, trust markers (like Rotten Tomatoes) and human curation will become more critical for sorting content.
• Monetization Innovation: Gen Z platforms excel at engagement but struggle with monetization; opportunities exist for integrated merchandise sales and direct-to-creator payment infrastructure.
• Flattened Distribution: The future lies in building tools that allow creators to assemble teams, manage distribution, and monetize directly, removing the "gates" of Hollywood, music, and traditional gaming publishing.
• Live Experiences: As digital content becomes abundant, physical location-based entertainment and live interactions are predicted to become the primary differentiator for value creation.