Comparative cultural economy and game industries in Asia

Abstract

This article examines the development of different models of Asian game industries. In Asia, globalization has meant the penetration of Western ideas and the cultural homogenization of culture. However, nowadays, the game industry in Asia has demonstrated new collaboration models in which game industries are dependent on Western cultural industries in alternative ways. There are also new economies that are independent of the Western cultural economy in terms of production, distribution, marketing, value chains, workforce, regulations, and more importantly, the notion of creativity. Based on interviews and empirical studies that were conducted in China, Japan, Korea, and SE Asian countries from 2012 to 2014, this analysis reveals a few alternative routes of collaboration and non-collaboration that contrast the type of cultural economy found in the United States and the United Kingdom.