[Photo provided to China Daily]

"Games require interactive content to lure players. But movies are a more personal, silent journey for the audiences," he says.

"So, whichever side a director chooses to be faithful to, he is unfaithful to the other, and leaves either game fans or movie fans dissatisfied," says Jiang.

Film critic Han Haoyue echoes this view, saying that most video-game movie directors lack the skills and knowledge when it comes to developing a game into a movie.

"A good movie should have something more than the tale. It must touch your heart, not just dazzle you with stunts and action," he says.

China has seen local firms explore the game-movie combination since 2011, when the country's largest game company Tencent introduced its "pan-entertainment" strategy to develop franchises including games, movies, TV series and literature works.