Development of the Video Game Industry in China at the End of the 20th Century

Abstract

The segment of video games in China emerged later than in the West, where the development of a new industry had been ongoing since the early 1970s, transforming from a leisure activity for a select few into one of the leading and successful sectors of the entertainment industry. The reforms initiated by Deng Xiaoping in 1978 led to significant shifts in the socio-economic system of the Chinese state. However, the gaming industry in China began to develop despite opposition of the authorities' policies and the conservative part of Chinese society. Despite serious ideological and economic barriers, the gaming market in China gradually began to be filled with locally produced technology, which at first may not have been of high quality, but was mass-produced and accessible to a large audience. Illegal copying of goods from foreign companies and firms played an important role, allowing consumers to timely familiarize themselves with the novelties of the global industry, not just with projects from local producers. The widespread distribution of pirated products and China's connection to the global network in the 1990s led to a large growth in the local virtual entertainment industry, both through the purchase of consoles and home computers and the establishment of internet cafes. The wide popularity of this new industry and its gradual integration with the global gaming industry required government intervention and laid the foundations for regulating this type of entertainment and strengthening ideological control over it by the government.