Qunabox's Physical AI Entertainment Debut Attracts Strong Interest at '99 Quna Festival' in Shanghai

Physical AI Entertainment Draws Long Queues

Qunabox Group's five-day "99 Quna Festival" concluded on the evening of Sept. 13 in Shanghai, marking the Hong Kong-listed company's first public showcase of its physical AI entertainment technology. The event drew sustained consumer interest and unsolicited partnership inquiries from industry players, suggesting early market validation for the group's expansion beyond its established interactive marketing business.

Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Shanghai, Qunabox Group Limited operates through three business segments: Marketing Services, Merchandise Sales and Other Services. The company went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in May 2024, offering 19.7 million shares at HKD 25.00 per share with a market capitalization at offer of HKD 65.68 billion (USD 8.42 billion).

As the festival closed, foot traffic had thinned at most brand interaction areas, but the physical AI entertainment experience zone remained busy. More than a dozen people lined up at the wearable-free motion-sensing game zone built on the Q-Sense engine. Participants stood in front of a naked-eye 3D screen and controlled game characters with body movements alone, requiring no wearable equipment.

A large real-time digital human runway display built on the Q-Gen engine also attracted heavy interest. Visitors took a single photo and received a personalized 3D digital avatar, then joined the runway interaction on the big screen. Many young women posted short videos to social platforms after trying the service. Staff reported that the service's interaction conversion rate far exceeded expectations, with many users recommending the experience to friends.

The global Physical AI market was valued at USD 81.6 billion in 2025 and is projected to grow from USD 110.8 billion in 2026 to USD 960.4 billion by 2033, at a compound annual growth rate of 36.1%. The entertainment segment represents a growing portion of investment, particularly in interactive animatronics and autonomous systems, with some projections estimating the overall market could reach approximately USD 430 billion by 2030.

Brand Partners Report Strong Engagement Metrics

For the group's core multi-sensory interactive marketing business, the festival extended the growth trend seen in previous periods. AI terminals equipped with the Q-Sense engine rolled out brand-customized interactive campaigns spanning fast-moving consumer goods, tea drinks and other industries. Through combined engagement of sight, hearing, smell and touch, participating users spent significantly longer and posted significantly higher interaction conversion rates than with traditional offline display formats.

"We used to run trial campaigns at traditional counters, where consumers stayed for only a minute or two on average. This time, with Qunabox's AI interactive terminals, the average stay topped five minutes, and the trial conversion rate was much higher than what our own campaigns delivered."

A marketing executive at a leading brand that participated in the festival said. Several partner brands have already begun discussing marketing plans for the coming year.

The festival took place in a robust local market environment. Shanghai's online gaming market generated 47.83 billion yuan (approximately USD 6.6-7 billion) in sales revenue in the first quarter of 2026, up 17.22 percent year-on-year, marking its fifth consecutive quarter of quarter-on-quarter growth.

Game Companies and IP Owners Seek Partnerships

During the festival, dozens of leading cultural tourism attractions, game companies and IP owners approached Qunabox staff on their own initiative, expressing intent to jointly develop offline experience projects based on the group's physical AI technology.

"We've been looking for the right offline scenario to bring our game's world to life. Traditional VR arcades don't deliver a good experience, and escape rooms are too operation-heavy. Qunabox's wearable-free approach stood out immediately. If we can turn our game IP into an offline immersive experience space, that would be very valuable for user acquisition and brand exposure."

An executive at a leading game company who visited the event said.

The interest comes amid broader industry momentum around AI-enhanced entertainment. ChinaJoy 2026, Asia's largest digital entertainment expo, ran from July 31 to August 3 in Shanghai under the theme "Level Up with AI," featuring over 1,000 games from 500 publishers and a dedicated "Vision Future" sector showcasing robotics, advanced AI models and next-generation smart wearables.

Venue Operators Propose Permanent Installations

Multiple operators of major commercial districts have offered to bring in Qunabox's physical AI entertainment equipment to build permanent, regularly operated experience points.

"What offline commercial properties lack most is experience content that keeps drawing traffic. Traditional arcades and escape rooms no longer bring young people back. Qunabox's devices don't take up much space, their content can be updated continuously and they can connect with our membership system — they're well suited to regular operations in atriums or at key points along customer flows."

A commercial real estate operator involved in the talks said.

Overseas Expansion Underway

Qunabox has obtained a business license in Singapore and is advancing the first physical AI entertainment space project there. The company's strategic deployment also includes Dubai and Australia as high-value overseas markets.

Singapore Expo introduced Apex @ Expo in 2026, a multipurpose event venue in Hall 1 that can accommodate up to 9,000 people, designed for concerts, conferences and large-scale events. In Dubai, the Exhibition Centre completed Phase 1 expansion in early 2026, increasing purpose-built indoor event space to 140,000 square metres with daily visitor capacity of 50,000 people, as part of a larger AED 10 billion expansion project. These venue developments align with Qunabox's international expansion plans.

Industry observers noted that the closing feedback from this year's "99 Quna Festival" validated the feasibility of Qunabox's dual-engine logic — a B2B marketing base plus a consumer entertainment second curve — across several dimensions. Continued renewals by brands confirmed the stability of the base business, unsolicited approaches from industry players confirmed the cross-scenario reusability of the physical AI technology base, and positive feedback from venue operators has cleared some obstacles for subsequent scale-up.

Some analysts cautioned that large-scale commercialization of the consumer entertainment business will take time to prove out, and that the pace at which IP partnerships and gaming tie-ups move from concept to reality, along with the group's ability to operate overseas markets locally, remain core variables to watch.