Journey to the East : Cultural adaptation of video games for the Chinese market
Luo, Dong (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)
Mangiron i Hevia, Carme (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)

Date:	2018
Abstract:	With the era of globalisation, China has become one of the most important video game markets in the world. To enter the Chinese market, culture adjustments are often made to video games in order to meet the needs and expectations of Chinese gamers. After briefly describing the characteristics of the Chinese game market, this article will focus on the process of cultural adaptation that games undergo when they are localised into Chinese, focusing on game-related aspects such as number format, food-related terminology, myths and legends, songs, the use of colours, character design, and game mechanics, as well as sociocultural, economic and political issues such as gaming habits and censorship. A number of examples are provided to illustrate how the above-mentioned aspects may affect the success of a foreign game in the Chinese market. The article concludes by highlighting the importance of cultural adaptation in game localisation into Chinese and outlining future research avenues.
Grants:	Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2014/SGR27
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Video games ; Game localisation ; Cultural adaptation ; Culturalisation ; China
Published in:	JoSTrans: Journal of Specialised Translation, Vol. 29 (2018) , p. 149-168, ISSN 1740-357X

Adreça alternativa: http://www.jostrans.org/issue29/art_dong.php

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Arts and Humanities > TransMedia Catalonia
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles