The Chinese Video Game Industry

The recent and dramatic development of China’s economy and international political muscle is especially pronounced in the country’s video game industry. Now the largest of its kind in the world by gross revenue, the Chinese video game industry impacts every player in the global game market and has begun to directly influence the nature of the video game medium itself. From its conceptualization of the player as a category and commodity, to its approach to the design, development, and marketing of products and services, the Chinese game industry is engaging in a complex, innovative, and fascinating reimagining of the video game as a cultural and industrial force.

The purpose of The Chinese Video Game Industry is to help introduce and investigate this industrial and cultural powerhouse. The book’s contributors array the industry across its history, economics, organization, politics, and cultures, documenting its rise, exploring its operational, cultural,and aesthetic characteristics, and capturing its context vis-à-vis the global media landscape. In so doing, the contributors provide a robust resource for anyone interested in studying, building, or even simply appreciating games.

Feng Chen is Student Affairs Counselor in the International Cooperation & Student Affairs Office at Shenzhen Technology University. He holds a PhD in East Asian Studies from the University of Arizona.

Ken S. McAllister is the Associate Dean of Research & Program Innovation in the College of Humanities at the University of Arizona, where he is also a Professor in the Department of Public & Applied Humanities.

Judd Ethan Ruggill is Professor and Head of the Department of Public & Applied Humanities at the University of Arizona. He and Ken McAllister co-direct the Learning Games Initiative (lgira.mesmernet.org), a transdisciplinary, inter-institutional research group they co-founded in 1999 to study, teach with, build, and archive games.