General News - China's Indie Gaming Scene

NeverKnowsBest takes a closer look at at the China's video game phenomenon:

The Curious Story of China's Indie Gaming Scene

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Introduction - 0:00

Part One: The Best History of video games in China - 5:27

Part Two: China's Surprise Successes - 20:07

Part Three: The Struggle of the Rest - 58:56

Part Four: Made in China for China - 1:21:54

Part Five: C********* - 1:54:03

Part Six: Conclusion - 2:10:45

Thanks Redglyph!



More information.

It's a long one, I haven't yet watched the whole of it. I found part one (history) particularly interesting, I had no idea those bans were so drastic over there! I like the Steam exception too, it reminds me of the recent law issues it bypassed in Europe (per-zone prices) and Australia (ban).

The problem of being noticed for indies is very relevant too, that's in part two.

Bans and censorship aside for some reason China loves Steam and hates consoles.
Why is that so, noone knows.

Sorry but every China Indie game on Steam has a Engrish problem. It reminds me of all the Russian Fallout clones from the last twenty years. They need better translators.

The Russian developers have learned that lesson at least nowadays.

I think Chinese devs don't need international customers so much. So an English translation is low on the prio list.

Originally Posted by HiddenX
I think Chinese devs don't need international customers so much. So an English translation is low on the prio list.

Likely. When you have such a massive local market for your games and you are a smaill indie team, the priority for translation must not be very high.

Not just Indie developers from China. A few big blockbusters had the English problem as well. Joxer played them as well as me and I shared them on my news-thread.

They had the same budget as a new Final Fantasy game.

*Hint search GuJian and The Legend of Sword

Actually in the video, he explains why this may be important for indie games to grab even a few customers and reviews. Most of them are not bought once, not reviewed once. So translation might be worth the effort, even if it's "impelfect". But I haven't watched it all, nor verified that theory.

I'm not saying it's the same for established game devs.

I'm not aware of any blockbuster games from China. Afaik, Black Myth: Wukong is going to be the first real AAA from a Chinese developer. It looks pretty good imo.

Define blockbuster as I don't see how it would apply to videogames industry.
I mean, there is no box office to bust.

Originally Posted by joxer
Define blockbuster as I don't see how it would apply to videogames industry.
I mean, there is no box office to bust.

Genshin Impact.

Not sure… It's not really an indie.
More than 500 people worked on it and some serious money was invested (cca $100M for development and marketing).

You said "define blockbuster as you don't see how it would apply to videogames industry." I answered and the answer is Genshin Impact.

Made more money then most blockbuster movies do on their international release.

I asked JDR to define it because it would be interesting to hear if he can connect it to wasting time in gyms or something.

About movies, covid had a huge impact on cinemas sadly.
If you watched some recent movies, scenes with a mass of people were very rare regardless of the country of origin. Everything is kinda empty and smallscreen friendly.
Another problem is the ongoing scenario trash rocking both Hollywood and Bollywood - no wonder Guy Richie remade a french movie that has a great script.

I don't mean blockbuster in terms of sales. I mean AAA production quality.

Originally Posted by HiddenX
I think Chinese devs don't need international customers so much. So an English translation is low on the prio list.

Similar to French or Spanish games, I think.

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
Similar to French or Spanish games, I think.

I dont know about Spanish games but French ones, like Solasta, target the international market first and foremost.

I don't see the PRC becoming a new player. at best they will copy themes, story and art styles from other games, which will probably sell well in the restricted mainland market and panned elsewhere.
The problem is the CCP will censor anything it doesn't like and the culture in the PRC is so artificial that any good new ideas will be shut down and safe dumbed down titles will be the only ones that will not be a financial liability to make. But that's fascism for you.