China intends to support games that reflect local culture and values

Last weekend, the first International Conference of the Games was held in Beijing. Local officials also spoke at it, who announced plans for further regulation and development of the video game industry.The conference was also attended by representatives of such large companies as NetEase, Tencent, Activision Blizzard, Sony and Microsoft.

The event was held under the supervision of the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the South China Morning Post reports.

The main provisions announced at the conferenceThe main message of Chinese officials is as follows: developers should create games that reflect Chinese culture and values;

• Yu Jiannan, deputy director of the Chinese Academy of Arts, said that online games should “appropriately tell stories about China” in order to expand their influence in the world.;
• The head of the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee, Du Feijin, agrees with this.
• According to him, games should pursue “higher goals” and carry positive values;Vice President of Tencent Yuan Min noted the need to protect underage gamers in the rapidly growing Chinese gaming industry.
• The company also presented at the conference a version of its cloud gaming service START for TV;Sony and Microsoft representatives will continue to promote Chinese games on PlayStation and Xbox.
• At the same time, the companies did not specify whether their new consoles will be released in China at the same time as the rest of the countries.What do experts say about the officials’ speech?

Analysts believe that this is a logical step for the local government, which has always tried to promote a positive image of China, its history and culture through various media.

Feng Chucheng, a political risk analyst at Plenum, notes that TV, movies and video games are important propaganda tools. “Chinese developers have the potential for global growth, and video games will become an effective tool for China to form an image of the country abroad,” Chucheng said.

According to Niko Partners, there are 720 million gamers in China, and over the past six years the number of players has grown by more than one and a half times. It is logical that the government is increasingly interested in controlling an actively developing industry.

In April, the Chinese government also announced plans to turn Beijing into an international online gaming capital by 2035. This is also the aim of the new E-sports Beijing 2020 initiative, which will subsidize esports teams, venues and games promoting Chinese culture.

Also on the topic:

• Chinese developers announced a boycott of Huawei and Xiaomi stores due to high commissionThe problem of sexism in the Chinese gaming industry amid the scandal with the authors of Black Myth: Wukong
• Niko Partners: Frituplay games accounted for 80% of revenues in the Asian market in 2019
• Is there any news?