Tencent’s Road to a Gaming Giant: Chinese Video Game Companies’ Development Trajectory in the Reconfiguration of Transnational Capitalism

Abstract

This study analyzes the growth trajectory of Chinese video game companies, with Tencent as the main focus. It draws on the framework of political economy regarding transnational capitalism and its reconfiguration, employing document analysis and informant interviews as research methods. This study argues that Chinese video game companies have taken a distinctive development path within the transnational capitalist system. Initially, they accumulated experience, technology, and capital at lower tiers of the global industry hierarchy. They then entered the emerging mobile game market and eventually ascended to prominent positions. On the one hand, their development has reinforced the existing system by providing new momentum and sites for capital accumulation. On the other hand, it has contributed to the reconfiguration of this system by rebalancing the Western-dominated power structures and exploring new development patterns.