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Jianwen “ JG ” Gao
Production
Chinese PC Gamers ’ Motivation , Game Preferences , and Publishing Advice for Non-Chinese Game Companies
My thesis aimed to document Chinese players ’ preferences post-COVID-19 pandemic through an online , publicly distributed survey and to provide foreign game companies with recommendations for publishing games in China . It serves as the starting point for non-Chinese companies to understand the Chinese market . It defined game culturization and recorded Chinese gamers ’ engagement levels in six different games , each representing a different level of game culturization . A follow-up discussion on the sales of these games was conducted . Meanwhile , this study collected demographic data about Chinese gamers ’ preferences .
Despite being originally designed to survey players from all platforms , this study found more than 90 percent of its participants to be PC gamers ( 900 + participants ). This study shows that Chinese PC gamers are motivated by immersion and creativityrelated game experiences . The anxiety
and loneliness brought by the COVID-19 lockdown had little impact left on players ’ motivations . Results revealed that Chinese PC gamers prefer the original game content from a foreign-made game to be fully retained and translated authentically , such as keeping the language choices of the original piece . This study also found many Chinese PC gamers ’ preferences , like valuing internet service quality the most for online games , 100 percent accepting the premium ( one-time purchase ) monetization model , and more . A follow-up discussion was made among participants who played games on consoles , finding more than 90 percent of them also played on PC , indicating an overlap between Chinese console players and PC players . Overall , from surveying Chinese players directly , this study provided a new perspective for foreign game companies to understand Chinese players ’ motivations , engagement , and preferences , which may provide more revenue opportunities .
58 PRODUCTION