Chinese Video/Computer Games
- Thread starter AssassinsMace
- Start date
Have you played Expedition 33 yet? That game is dripping French culture in every fibre of its being. What separates it though from recent Chinese content like WuKong and Nezha 2, is that the French culture is still made accessible for a global audience. Black Myth Wukong's story for example is basically incomprehensible for people who don't have a scholar's knowledge of Journey to the West or Buddhist mythology, same with Nezha 2 to an extent.
The problem is that the incomprehensibility is what a lot of Chinese cultural chauvanists like, since they claim Chinese culture after being maligned for so long deserves to be portrayed in an unadultered form. But with how dense Chinese culture is and how the world still has little exposure to it, I don't think putting different coats of paint on it to make it palatable just like the gacha companies, do is in anyway bad. But as always, with a market of China's size if creatives can make bank in China alone the need to appeal to foreign audiences has never been there.
To Be a Hero X seems to being do fine internationally, but I'm seeing that Mainland Chinese animation fans actually think its pretty mid. Its the same story with Link Click, where international audiences seem to like it a lot more than Mainlanders do.
With Wukong and Chinese culture in general, my opinion is that those who like it will like it enough to put in the effort to learn. It's why wuxia is surprisingly popular and well-known to the Western audience. First-time readers will not know what the heck is going on, nor understand the pacing or even the culture behind it, but people still flock to it. Just give it time, learning and understanding take years to work and constant showing. As more Chinese games pop out, the audience will naturally increase. Especially if they are good in quality like Wukong.
As for To Be Hero X, I think it's doing pretty well in the mainland. There are a lot of people joining the online voting for the characters, and merch is everywhere. I've also seen some people dislike it, but I don't think they are in the majority.
I think there's confusion here. Cultural power is transferred through art regardless of whether it is intentionally made for that role; and indeed, the most genuine way of transfer, is when the creators don't intentionally try to make themselves "cultural ambassadors" (it's one reason the Confucius Institutes were a failure).
A Chinese game, animation, show, etc. is Chinese by virtue of being made by Chinese people. Nothing more, nothing less. As long as it is a genuine expression of Chinese creators' artistic vision, it doesn't matter if it resembles or derives from Japanese anime or Hollywood films or Korean drama. It will still be Chinese at its core. The trap to avoid is situations in which Chinese creators are told to replicate something that isn't their vision - not because it is copying (that is fine if it comes from the heart), but because it results in soul less work with no heart.
This is why I'm not particularly worried about Chinese anime games or shows converting into some sort of Japanese cultural power. As long as it is Chinese and not Japanese people developing those games and shows, that just won't happen. Culture is deeply embedded in a person's psychology, it is not superficial and it isn't capable of being truly replicated. Chinese games and anime don't "feel" like Japanese games and anime, even if superficially they seem similar, deep down they reflect Chinese culture and values. So long as Chinese companies and the government continue to support Chinese creators, it will all end up as Chinese cultural power in the end.
A Chinese game, animation, show, etc. is Chinese by virtue of being made by Chinese people. Nothing more, nothing less. As long as it is a genuine expression of Chinese creators' artistic vision, it doesn't matter if it resembles or derives from Japanese anime or Hollywood films or Korean drama. It will still be Chinese at its core. The trap to avoid is situations in which Chinese creators are told to replicate something that isn't their vision - not because it is copying (that is fine if it comes from the heart), but because it results in soul less work with no heart.
This is why I'm not particularly worried about Chinese anime games or shows converting into some sort of Japanese cultural power. As long as it is Chinese and not Japanese people developing those games and shows, that just won't happen. Culture is deeply embedded in a person's psychology, it is not superficial and it isn't capable of being truly replicated. Chinese games and anime don't "feel" like Japanese games and anime, even if superficially they seem similar, deep down they reflect Chinese culture and values. So long as Chinese companies and the government continue to support Chinese creators, it will all end up as Chinese cultural power in the end.
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I think that one important aspect that's pretty unique to Chinese entertainment products as opposed to those made in the rest of Asia is that they tend to be only designed for Chinese audiences to begin with. And for the Chinese audience, cultural density isn't an impediment, and it's so big that these products just don't have to do any cultural outreach. Personally I read a lot of Chinese novels, and when I do, I gravitate towards the really untranslatable stuff like historical novels with heavy political, social, and philosophical commentary.
And I think that the hope that Chinese media be more universally appealing is a bit misplaced. The one arena where China excels about other countries is that it's good at play the long game. As long as the quality of the works in China improves, then it will be able to find an audience outside of its borders. It doesn't really matter if this happens in five years, or fifteen years, or fifty years.
And I think that the hope that Chinese media be more universally appealing is a bit misplaced. The one arena where China excels about other countries is that it's good at play the long game. As long as the quality of the works in China improves, then it will be able to find an audience outside of its borders. It doesn't really matter if this happens in five years, or fifteen years, or fifty years.
Looks fire, here's with English subtitles. Netease has also proven they can make AAA with Marvel Rivals, so high hopes.
Also I was perhaps too quick to say Clair Obscur set the bar impossibly high for Chinese devs to catch up. The last two quests that Genshin released had crazy good writing. Its a given China's only really started to take off in game development, so it needs a bigger portfolio to get up to Japan and the US's level. But I think its clear the talent's already there and the future can only get better from here.
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Dam Tang era uncharted at least thats the vibe i got from the trailer.
If some of the trailer are gameplay, the game would be more like Hellblade 2 than God of War or Uncharted.
