InGAME International

Lead Research Organisation: Abertay University
Department Name: Sch of Arts Media and Computer Games

Abstract

InGAME International is an international consortium of games industry stakeholders brought together from industry, agencies and universities to investigate the challenges to, and deliver solutions that support, international collaboration between the videogames sectors in the UK and China.

The videogames sector in China boasts the biggest market in the world and some of the largest and most profitable games companies. In 2018 620 million spent $37.9 billion across mobile, PC and console games. The UK is the 6th biggest market in the world and the creators of so,me of the most successful games titles. 37.3 million players spent $4.5 billion in 2018. Alongside this asymmetry in scale, each sector has strengths and weaknesses that contribute to inhibiting the growth and evolution of the videogames industry in both territories.

Research undertaken by BOP Consulting on behalf of the Arts and Humanities Research Council in the UK shows that the videogames sector in China is dominated by a small number of very large media companies. In total, 12 companies generate 90% of revenues from video games in China. Tencent and NetEase dominate the video games market with over 50% of the entire video game market and over 60% of the mobile game segment. The same research highlights access to funding is the main barrier to UK companies achieving the scale required to enter the Chinese market. As well as commercial barriers, cultural differences and production processes, business and regulatory environments and education and professional training are also cited as barriers to growth and international collaboration. The proposed project aims to pick up from the BOP report to build cross-sector expertise and a research team that is able to adapt quickly to new knowledge and understanding emerging from research findings. The project recognises the dynamic nature of the sector and of academic understanding and has designed a programme that is capable of respoding to emergent conditions.

InGAME International proposes to establish projects in two main areas. Researchers in the UK and China will work together to identify policy and regulatory barriers to cooperation and develop new modes of working with a view to creating innovative new products, services and business models. Researchers will work with industry professionals to understand regulation and policy; especially licensing and IP, together with market dynamics and commercial models, including in-game revenue streams. We will also explore organisational cross-nation interoperation, especially between very small and very large organisations, cultural and audience differences to identify the relationship between developed product and consumer-base in key games subsectors. Simultaneously, researchers will work with industry partners to will review a range of gaming and other game-technology enabled experiences and their aesthetics together the technologies that underpin both those experiences themselves and the production pipelines used to create them. We will also characterise the different models of game production in the UK and China, identifying key similarities and differences.

Building on this research base the project will undertake to test the research outcomes through the creation of a small number of demonstrator projects involving international co-production of innovative new products aimed at testing assumptions or exploring new opportunities. Alongside this, the project will apply InGAME UKs action research methodology to assess and verify innovation processes and practices across all aspects of policy, regulation, production and commercialisation in order to develop guidelines and advice, academic programmes and professional training to ensure that outcomes and impacts are resilient, learning and networks are sustained and new generations of games professionals are equiped to work with researchers to innovate new products for international markets.

Planned Impact

InGAME International will develop a transnational community of industrial and academic partners to provide a platform for UK-China partnership growth. We will foster this community through four interconnected mechanisms: Partnership Scoping Events - to stimulate new interactions between UK and China organisations; Partnership Support - will reduce barriers of regulatory, cultural and technical risk; Investor Forums - R&D led products and services can be showcased to potential investors in a supportive environment; and Development Activities - that will deepen links in the longer term by providing in-depth training to industry and academia in person and online.

Partnership Scoping Events: Fundamental to our engagement with industry is fostering new partnerships through structured Scoping Events undertaken on a monthly basis. UK/China briefings will present to each sector the opportunities and barriers, in terms of regulation, culture, audience etc., together with exemplars of partnerships so far. We will also provide backgrounds on the partners participating in the network event. We will seek collaborative themes from each Scoping Event, for example game platform (e.g. cloud), technology (e.g. AR), commercial (e.g. revenue model).

Partnership Support:We recognise that there is no single mode of support that will suffice for all types of partnerships and all types of products, services and technologies. We will support:
(i) Funded staff exchanges, with a particular focus on but not limited to UK SMEs working with games companies in China.
(ii) Deploying creative talent (industry, academics, students) and design methods (including game jams) we will mitigate the risk of ideation and concept development for new platforms, genres, audiences and business models, whilst simultaneously bringing benefits to students and promoting industry involvement in UK-China collaboration;
(iii) Support in navigating the complex regulatory, commercial and cultural landscape, including audience demographics and patterns of media consumption, of UK-China collaboration.

Investor Forums: We recognise that there will be partnerships where additional external investment is required to productise R&D activity. We will provide a supportive environment where promising products and services can be showcased to potential investors. We are currently working with development agencies in the UK (Scottish Development International/Department for International Trade)to support UK games company attendance at China Joy in Shanghai and Develop Conference in the UK.

Industry Development: During the funded period we will provide in-depth face-to-face training to industry, whilst also developing a suite of online learning materials to provide scalable support beyond the funded period. Abertay University will fork with Perfect World Education in Beijing to develop dual-language programmes.

Talent development: Academic exchange between UK and China academic partners in order to develop UK-China academic collaborations that offer to educate the next generation of talent and to develop academic staff in China and by doing so foster long-term sustainable links via academia into industry.

Pathway to Partnerships Online: We will embed all Pathway to Partnerships resources, including learning materials, scoping reviews, demonstrators, databases of prospective partners (as appropriate) and showcases of success, within an open-access dual language online repository.

Project impacts are designed to be sustainable and are built on established relationships. The project is committed to persisting beyond the funded period in order to continue to deliver value into all stakeholder institutions and organisations and to continue to generate new opportunities for international research and development collaboration within the academic partnership.
 
Title Exploring the opportunities for UK games businesses in China: a case study of two industry-led mobile game prototypes 
Description This case study of game development R&D brought together researchers, developers, and industrial partners to explore co-production of experimental games for UK-China markets. Postgraduate teams comprising British, Chinese and international developers were tasked with responding to industry-led challenges related to UK-China games industry interests. The case study examines issues such as bringing British IP to China, how social play is managed in the Chinese market, and cross cultural representation both within game products and within development teams. The final work comprises two original game prototypes that serve as pathfinders for UK games businesses with interests in the Chinese games market, and a final project video documenting the experiences of industry, academic, and developer experience on the project. 
Type Of Art Artefact (including digital) 
Year Produced 2023 
Impact The game prototypes and accompanying short film about the projects are being promoted to UK and China industry partners as an example of collaboration on games development. The case study summarises challenges around gaming restrictions (inclusive of screen time) and divergence in social media, with discussion of how original game development can navigate these challenges. The case study also highlights the opportunities for UK creative businesses in the Chinese games market, including promoting UK knowhow/skills and British IP. This work is being used as learning materials for industry engagement. 
URL https://rke.abertay.ac.uk/en/publications/exploring-the-opportunities-for-uk-games-businesses-in-chi...
 
Title InGAME International - Project Summary 
Description In this short film you will hear from researchers and creative professionals who were involved with the InGAME International project. As well as introducing the aims and outcomes of this UK-China Creative Industries Partnerships programme, some key considerations for UK-China collaboration in games are provided by experts from academia and industry. 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2024 
Impact This short film is an accompaniment to the main InGAME International Pathway to Collaboration report, which has been promoted to representatives of the games industry in the UK and China. The video is embedded within the report download page and has been made available via the InGAME International website and YouTube channel. The video is intended as a short educational output to communicate the learning of the project and signpost industry and related professionals to the recommendations of the report. 
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1POu8cVRWXE
 
Title InGAME International collaboration with Pocket Sized Hands 
Description This video documents the creative collaboration with Dundee-based games company, Pocket Sized Hands, as they endeavoured to develop an original game concept and IP targeting the Chinese games market. 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2024 
Impact This video is being used as a learning resource for game developers and game students who are interested in the Chinese games market, development for international markets, and localisation. It has been added to an internal course on the Creative Industries in China and made available as part of the wider learning resources included on the InGAME International website. 
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adYJGMwfogQ&feature=youtu.be
 
Title Navigating China game publishing: a case study of Steam China 
Description This case study focuses on engagement with publishing platforms in China and involves a collaboration with Steam China. Our goal was to develop an original, playable game prototype that was both framed and informed by China publishing and market expertise. By developing the game concept and pitch from the ground up with these restrictions and requirements in mind, our hope was that the resulting case study would serve as a useful pathfinder for other UK-based developers who want to learn more about game publishing for China markets. 
Type Of Art Artefact (including digital) 
Year Produced 2023 
Impact The case study provides those with interests in the games industry and publishing routes into the Chinese market with insight into the publishing process, working with a Chinese publisher, and the challenges in navigating divergence in regulation and markets. The prototype game and case study document is available for public access and will be used as materials in industry engagement events around China publishing. 
URL https://rke.abertay.ac.uk/en/publications/navigating-china-game-publishing-a-case-study-of-steam-chi...
 
Description Our project has been exploring collaboration in game business, creation, and production between the UK and China. Both nations have substantial gaming markets and are home to some of the most successful game development studios and publishing houses. However, there are challenges (political, cultural, and logistical) to fluid cooperation on game making and market access.

Following the completion of our R&D programme in January 2024, we have published a comprehensive report on our original qualitative study involving ~50 industry experts drawn from China, the UK and internationally, all with experience of UK/China games industry and the inherent challenges involved in collaboration. Detailed findings are included in the report. A summary of findings is provided below.

1) Insights into UK-China collaboration in game production.
We have developed key findings on UK-China collaboration that are grounded in studies of live transnational development projects and that engage experienced business stakeholders in both nations. These findings are reported in our publications and case studies. In our paper 'Transnational development cultures Navigating production, market, and cultural difference within European-Chinese game development teams' (Sloan et al. 2022), we observed that differences in work cultures and production practices can be overcome. Impacts such as remote working, time differences, and the Great Firewall (which affects Internet access in China), while challenging, can be overcome. We also concluded that the cultural benefits of mixing teams and bringing developers from the UK and China together were hugely beneficial and warranted any effort required to facilitate international working, with benefits emerging from navigation of cultural differences, embedding localisation, and consideration of gaming restrictions and regulations in China. This work has been expanded by our industrial R&D case studies involving our partners Perfect World, Beano Studios, and Outplay Entertainment. In our case study of Steam China (a Perfect World subsidiary), we explored how UK-based development teams could collaborate early with Chinese publishers to influence their understanding of market differences, market preferences, and the impacts of regulation on the publishing process. Our case study of two original game prototypes developed with Beano Studios and Outplay Entertainment explored the potential for translating valuable British IP for Chinese gaming markets and promoting UK skills and knowhow in the development of social games for Chinese audiences.

2) Development of international networks of UK-China games researchers
We have delivered two 2-day international conferences that brought together academics from the UK, China, and internationally to present their insights into games, China, and engagement with the West. Our conferences have been online or hybrid online, allowing for wider participation in the context of international travel restrictions during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The first conference of our programme was titled 'Games in/between China and the West' and had a broad remit to focus on the barriers and opportunities to connection and collaboration. Our speakers contributed knowledge from a variety of perspectives, including cultural studies, game art, production, and legal. All talks were pre-recorded and remain online as a permanent resource for public access. The second conference of our programme was titled 'International gaming: laws and regulations around games in the digital era' and was a collaboration with Durham University. The focus on law and regulation emerged from our first conference, where challenges around issues such as IP, copyright, and Chinese media regulations were identified as among the most prominent barriers to cooperation. The proceedings for both our conferences are publicly available, and would be a useful resource to any researcher or practitioner looking to learn more about UK-China (or China-West) collaboration, barriers, and opportunities. Our networks have shown that there is a need for strong cross-disciplinary input into formalisation of and support for sustainable UK-China business collaboration in games, in particular with inclusion of legal, localisation, and publishing experts.

3) Recommendations for industry
Our analysis of interviews with industry experts, reports, market data, and wider academic literature (including texts published in China), underpinned our set of industry recommendations in our final InGAME International Pathway to Collaboration report. Our recommendations are summarised below under our eight key themes:
1. UK Games Industry
• Connect with relevant government agencies and other forms of support for British business in China, including the British Embassy in Beijing and the Department for Business and Trade.
• Engage positively with Chinese publishers focussing on the quality of the product. UK developers should not be concerned with differences in company scale or number of employees: a small UK indie studio that has a compelling product can cooperate successfully with a major Chinese publisher.
• Develop and share more use cases of successful and unsuccessful interactions between UK game developers and China-based publishers. As our insight from our first-hand account from a UK CEO shows, sharing of experience and know-how, even when anonymised, can help to demystify encounters and discuss the experience of business, cultural, or language barriers.
2. China Games Industry
• Review and understand the publishing differences in China. UK game developers should ensure that they appreciate the processes involved before committing to pursuing collaboration with a Chinese publisher.
• Attend major trade shows with a view to arranging meetings with Chinese publishers. Attend events and seminars arranged by UK games bodies and related agencies that aim to support introductions to Chinese publishers.
3. China Regulations
• Examine the licensing processes for games releases in China. UK developers should be familiar with the steps involved in license acquisition, timelines, and requirements.
• Acknowledge differences in hard and soft rules. Consider to what extent your product(s) comply with hard rules, and discuss internally any concerns around potential soft rules that could hinder approval.
• Consider how regulatory differences, such as the tight restrictions on screen time for minors, could contents impact on the monetisation of your products.
4. Business Cultures
• Understand the importance of guanxi to forging business relationships in China, and consider strategies for investing in relationship building through travel to China or arranging meetings at trade shows.
• Anticipate differences in game financing when partnering with Chinese publishers, in terms of payment schedules or royalties.
5. Technology & Infrastructure
• Appreciate the dominance of mobile in China over other platforms and the geographic and policy reasons underpinning the prevalence of mobile installation in China.
• Consider the impact of regulated Internet access and transfer of data in and out of China on both the development of your product and how your product can be played if it is reliant on multiplayer connections.
• Research comparable Chinese apps and platforms in to those that your business relies on in the UK, including the importance of WeChat to both communications and game play, and comparable streaming platforms that can be used to market your products within a Chinese internal market.
6. Diversity
• Appreciate that both UK and Chinese games developers and related business can be affected by similar and diverging challenges around diversity, including diversity of gender, age, and nationality.
7. Localisation and Culturalisation
• Recognise that localisation in games between the UK and China is substantially more than language difference, and expands out to wider areas of cultural difference that can impact on how your game is received and understood.
• Embed consideration of cultural difference early in the design process. If designing a game with a Chinese market in mind, work with or employ experts with experience of culturalisation and ensure that they are involved in concept development and pre-production.
8. Markets
• Research how the grey market operates in China, how consumers access games through both legitimate platforms and app stores, and through non-approved outlets.
• Consider market data regularly, with a view to understanding the motivators and drivers for Chinese audiences. Identify areas of overlap and shared trends.
Exploitation Route We expect that the outcomes of this funding will be of most value to the UK and China games industries, and to those working in games research and education. There is limited public insight into live UK-China business cooperation, while our studies have made transparent the findings of transnational working and engagement with business. All our resources - including our publications and video resources - are accessible to audiences in industry and education and would be a useful resource for knowledge on opportunities and barriers to UK-China games cooperation, with emphasis on navigation of barriers.
Sectors Creative Economy

URL https://rke.abertay.ac.uk/en/publications/ingame-international-pathway-to-collaboration-collaboration-in-ga
 
Description Concluding in January 2024, we are beginning to see early impact of the research within the games and related sectors, as well as in education. 1) We have had strong in-person and in particular hybrid and asynchronous online engagement from representatives of the games industry. Our events have prompted requests for further information and support, including requests for one-to-one meetings to discuss the market in China, publishing processes, and areas of further research. We will track downloads and survey responses for the final InGAME International Pathway to Collaboration report, which we have shared with partners at Ukie and Scottish Enterprise as well as our own wider games networks in the UK. To date, survey responses show that professionals at junior, senior, lead, and director-level games professionals across a variety of disciplines and from around the UK have downloaded the report. Additionally, our data so far shows that academics and representatives of government/government agencies have accessed the report. We will provide a more extensive account of reach in 2025 once we have more data. 2) Our video resources and other learning materials have supported the launch of a new course at Abertay on the Chinese creative industries, and the materials will also be used within out dedicated project website as a learning resource for industry. We will track access to these resources and report impact in the next reporting period.
First Year Of Impact 2024
Sector Creative Economy,Education
 
Description FDG TV online video interview - AI for Animation and Exploring Game Development for Chinese Audiences 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Project members Robin Sloan and Hailey Austin were invited to participate in an online video interview for the FDG TV channel. The interview afforded opportunities to discuss the challenges of UK-China coproduction and collaboration on game production. The video was widely promoted online by the conference on social media, in addition to the 290 channel subscribers. The video has generated research and media enquiries external to the university about the project and on engagement with the Chinese games industry.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://youtu.be/hQfGITBOgZY
 
Description From East to West: Cross-Cultural Games Innovation in China and Beyond 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact This was a celebratory event to mark the end of Abertay University's InGAME International project on China-UK video game innovation. From East to West: Cross-Cultural Games Innovation in China and Beyond was hosted at Dundee Contemporary Arts on Thursday 14th September from 4pm - 9pm.

The event featured several international experts in China and UK co-production discussing IP, and copyright through a lens of game design, localisation considerations and internationalisation. This included Dr Angelia Jia Wang of Durham University presenting on 'Protecting gameplay through the lens of the MDA framework', and Dr Xiaochun Zhang of UCL presenting on 'Pivot Translation in Game Localisation for Chinese Players'. In addition, the event afforded opportunities for the wider project team to discuss their research and insights in UK-China games research. This included Xiaoxiong Xiong discussing her ongoing research into the business motivations of Chinese games companies in an international context, and Pocket Sized Hands discussing their experience producing an original game concept for the Chinese market as part of their InGAME International collaboration.

The team also shared the preliminary findings of the Pathway to Collaboration report, informed by interviews with over 50 developers working in the UK and China.

After the talks there was a social event in the Centrespace, hosted by Hubworld Scotland. This event showcased video games made with both UK and Chinese markets in mind by students at Abertay in partnership with international video games and media companies, including Beano Studios and Outplay Entertainment.

This event aimed to celebrate the successes of the project, to share findings with the national games industry, and bring together developers interested in cross-cultural development of video games.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/from-east-to-west-cross-cultural-games-innovation-in-china-and-beyond...
 
Description Hitmarker Presents - How to Navigate the Gaming Jobs Market 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Undergraduate students
Results and Impact As part of the InGAME International UK-China programme, Abertay University games students of all disciplines were invited to the presentation and individual feedback from Rich Huggan. 97 students signed up to attend the event, which was lead by Rich Huggan the Managing Director of Hitmarker, which is the largest gaming and esports jobs platform in the world. Rich presented his findings on how to best navigate the gaming jobs market and highlight the opportunities for students. He gave detailled career advice via 1-to-1 CV feedback to 10 students. This event was targeted at final postgraduate and undergraduate students across the local region as an in-person event only. As a direct result of the event, participants have applied for posts at NetEase UK studios and other UK and international studios. This event has also cemented our relationship with Hitmarker and is a foundation for future collaboration on games industry education and recruitment.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/hitmarker-presents-how-to-navigate-the-gaming-jobs-market-tickets-445...
 
Description Hosting a Scoping event as part of the Women in Games Festival and Conference 14 Sept 2021 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact As a satellite event for the Women in Games conference, Women from the UK and China discussed their experiences working in games research and the games industry. The aim was to locate established communities for women in games as well as find potential for further community building across these sectors and nations. 2 women discussed their research into gaming in the UK and China, followed by a round table discussion with two women working in the games industry in an international games company. There were 27 live attendees and over 80 twitch streams of the event to date. The round table discussion encourage 6 one-to-one post-event meetings to network and meet other women in the games industry. There were also 5 responses to our survey, that reported the event as being helpful and that the participants learned something new. Respondents were interested in being parts of communities for women in the games industry and were keen to meet women from all walks of life. They also gave ijmportant data into what games companies could do to show they were actively recruiting women, including, child care, maternity leave, flexible working, guidance to help women in leadership positions, openness about women in leadership positions, and unconscious bias training.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1148316797
 
Description InGAME International Conference: Games in/between China and the West 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact We curated an online conference, issuing a broad call for papers. This conference invited talks from researchers in China, the UK/Europe, and beyond, with a focus on cross-cultural (China-West) research in games. We aimed to bring together researchers from different regions to build a better understanding of the opportunities and barriers to academic and industry collaboration.

The end result was our fully online conference comprising both asynchronous and synchronous delivery. The asynchronous conference is a website of curated, pre-recorded talks, which we have promoted widely to partners, academic groups, and other interested parties. Our live conference afforded opportunities for discussion between speakers and attendees.

The link to the conference website provides access to all recorded talks. Note that this event is linked to our published conference proceedings.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://innovationforgames.com/ingame_international/igi-conference/
 
Description InGAME International Information Event - The China Games Market for UK Games Studios 17 Sept 2021 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact This event provided researchers and games industry professionals with an opportunity to learn about our current research into the Chinese games market. The aim was to identify barriers faced by UK companies when considering the Chinese market. We also provided information on the longer term vision of the project, including plans to develop guidance, support mechanisms, and funded exchanges to China for the UK games sector. There was an introduction the the project, presentations on regulation and localisation in China, prototyping for the UK and China market, Creative Co-Production between the UK and China, and a roundtable discussion on what support games companies need to do business between the UK and China. There were 26 live attendees from 8 international companies and 6 international universities. Since the event, there have been over 12 Youtube views of the recorded presentations. The 8 games companies included UK companies Pocketsized Hands, Junkfish, Splash Damage, Byte Dance, and Focus Games as well as Chinese companies Tencent, Crazy Sports, and Shenzhen ZQ Game Co. The UK Universities present were the University of Westminster, University of Southampton, Durham University, University of Abertay and University of St. Andrews. Researchers from Jilin University from China were also in attendance. There were 4 other international companies present as well: Scottish Development International, TAL, IGG, and Limit Break Mentorship.

The largest impact from this event, was learning that UK games companies would benefit from a roadmap on how to publish in China beginning with a knowledge of opportunities in China, knowledge of legistlation and risk in China, and to be matched with reputable chinese partners to eventually release a UK game in the Chinese market. This came about during the question and answer session.

Connections and further involvement with Durham University and other games companies also came about after this session. It has informed what our next sessions will look like and how we will disseminate information at future events.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WWordf_RhI
 
Description InGAME International x Scottish Development International at Gamescom 2023 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact InGAME International partnered with Scottish Development International and Ukie to promote the games industry at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, in August 2022. This served as the third and final Investor Forum of the InGAME International project, and the first to be delivered fully in-person at a live venue following two previous online investor forums with Scottish Development International (Summer 2021) and Ukie (Spring 2022).

InGAME International participated in pre-arranged and ad-hoc meetings with representatives of international games companies and investors, with our team member focussed on connecting with companies based in or with links to China. We collated examples of UK game studios' portfolios and track record, drawing on our network contacts in the UK.

This event has led to follow up conversations about investment in the UK and working, and underpinned the curation of follow up engagements such as collaboration with NetEase UK.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.gamescom.global/en
 
Description International Gaming: Laws and Regulations around Games in the Digital Era 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Games have a complicated relationship with the law and with the globalization of the gaming market in the digital era, legality is something that must be considered in the development, publication, playing and moderation of games. Games have been and continue to be regulated around the globe, and issues arise at different times in a games life cycle: intellectual property (IP), including patent and copyright protection, must be considered from the initial development of the game; International legality, age ratings, and infringement must be considered in the publication of the game; and players must consider the legality of their manner of obtaining the game and whether or not that game is even legal in the country they are playing in. In addition to this, there are legal issues surrounding abuse and harassment in games, leading several developers to implement moderation and other safety regulations internally in order to pass risk assessments from international regulations. In this way, the laws and regulations around games and gaming in the digital era need to be scrutinized.

The theme of the conference was to explore the dynamic of gaming and the legal/regulatory framework at both national and international levels, from an interdisciplinary perspective. Run as a hybrid event with our collaborators at Durham University, this 2-day conference attracted speakers from China, the UK, Europe, and North America, with topics ranging from IP and copyright to cultural studies. This was our first event to attract a significant number of in-person attendees since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which supported network building and sharing of research ideas. The event has underpinned the subsequent development of a proposal for a special issue journal on the Chinese games sector, to be developed in 2023.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://innovationforgames.com/eventbrite-event/international-gaming-laws/
 
Description NetEase Games UK - Presentation and Networking Discussion 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact NetEase Games is the online games division of Chinese games and media company NetEase, Inc., developing and operating some of the most popular mobile and PC games in markets including China and Japan. As one of the world's largest incubators of quality online game content, NetEase Games is dedicated to supporting the growth of innovative studios around the globe and growing an international presence along the way.

The NetEase Games UK Office was established in 2019 to focus on business development and global production.

As part of the InGAME International UK-China programme, Abertay University invited games students of all disciplines to attend this invited presentation and networking discussion with NetEase UK.

This event was targeted at final postgraduate and undergraduate students across the local region as an in-person event only. Over 50 students and other invited industry/practitioners attended.

This event has cemented our relationship with NetEase in the UK and is a foundation for future collaboration on games industry education and recruitment. As a direct result of the event, participants have applied for posts at NetEase UK studios, with graduate appointments made as early as Spring 2023.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://innovationforgames.com/eventbrite-event/netease-games-uk-presentation-and-networking-discuss...
 
Description Presentation and Roundtable Participation at EU-China Gaming & E-Sports Industry Connect, Shanghai and Online, September 24th 2021 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact The InGAME International Team were invited by the China-Britain Business Council (CBBC) to represent the UK gaming and eSports industries as part of the EU-China Gaming & E-Sports Industry Connect event on September 24th, 2021. InGAME International contributed to the event by acting as one of four organisations providing a direct industry connect presentation, and by taking part in an eSports roundtable discussion as one of three European organisations and in collaboration with three Chinese organisations.

This event was hosted at the Anandi Hotel, Shanghai, with remote participation made possible via Zoom. The aim of the event was to act a games and eSports industries trade fair for EU and China sectors. Businesses from across both China and Europe were invited to participate to:
1) gain knowledge of China market through an up-to-date market overview of China's gaming industry and Chinese companies' international cooperation interests; 2)
access marketing and branding opportunities, build B2B partnerships, and drive marketing initiatives within the China market; and 3) Connect with key Chinese market players.

Examples of organisations targeted for attendance include: 1) Chinese organisations; NetEase, IGG, ByteDance, Bilibili, Huawei Cloud, GamePlus, Perfect World, ADFLY, Uniu Game, Yugong Group, Dan Game, Heitao Interactive, 9You, StarO, KingNet, GG Games, Transsion, 76Game, Zhaohe Network, CEC, Xipu Game, XFUN Games, Fangqu Network, Youya, Yunchan, Shengqu Games, Arden Game, Bajin Technology, and 2) EU/UK organisations; European/British Gaming companies, indie studios who want to get into China market, European/British E-Sports Companies, European/British E-Sports Clubs who want to explore China market.

InGAME International participation in this event enabled international EU-China reach with a primarily business and industry audience. Representing InGAME International on the eSports roundtable discussion, Dr William Huber (Head of Centre of Excellence at Abertay University) spoke alongside Ukie, Nano Games, SESA, VSPN, and JE Esports, proving the project with a significant platform for debate around games and eSports cooperation between the UK and China. As part of the Industry Connect sessions, InGAME International researchers Dr Hailey Austin and Hayley Brown provided an overview of the project research and opportunities for engagement.

As a result of participation in this event, the most immediate impacts relate to the development of new networks, contacts, and requests for further involvement with the project from EU/UK and China companies.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.cbbc.org/events/2021-eu-china-gaming-e-sports-industry-connect
 
Description Project team visit to Bristol Digital Game Lab 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact On Friday 24 February, the InGAME International team attended the UK Digital Game Lab Summit in Bristol, England hosted by the Bristol Digital Game Lab. Bringing together research game labs from around the UK, this event sought to identify routes for collaboration between games researchers in the UK with a view to influencing policy and shaping future research. The InGAME International team was invited by a founding member of the Bristol Digital Game Lab and an expert in English/Chinese language translation, audio description, and localisation in video games. This event enabled us to discuss the challenges and opportunities related to localisation and audio description in UK games, with explicit reference to global distribution and audio description for games that are translated. This builds upon our existing research into localisation and culturalisation, with future work identified in audio description embedded into games production in the UK. At the event, we also presented to and engaged with 20+ participants from 8 game labs throughout the UK.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Scottish Games Virtual Mission to China 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact InGAME International collaborated with Scottish Development International (SDI) to support delivery of the Scottish Games Virtual Mission to China, the first in our series of Investor Forums. With wider support from partners in China including DIT, CBBC, Guangdong Game Industry Association and Guangzhou International Exchange Centre, this virtual mission aimed to engage and explore the Chinese gaming industry for collaboration and business opportunities in games development and publishing in China and the global market.

The mission was launched with a briefing session on July 27th 2021. The briefing session included an opening address by Mr Ivan Mckee, the Scottish Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Entrepreneurship. InGAME International delivered a presentation on the Creative China project and the R&D programme, promoting opportunities for engagement and collaboration. Presentations were also provided by guest speakers from the wider project partnership with expertise in China, including: Perfect World, Merits & Tree, GameDash, and Steam China. Topics included key issues covered by the project R&D programme, such as IP, publishing, and market entry.

This mission directly impacted on 8 UK-based games businesses, including game studios, game-related business, and game technology companies. In total there were 35 attendees at the mission with more audiences reached through recording and follow up work. As part of the wider programme of networking and matchmaking, UK-based companies connected with partners in China. Fifteen companies from China engaged in this activity: Boke Technology, ByteDance, CEC Games, Guandu Games, ICC Game, IGG, iDreamSky, Merits & Tree, NetEase Games, Perfect World, Shengqu Games, Tencent, XFun Games, ZQ Games, and 37 Interactive Entertainment. Each UK company that participated in meetings were provided with between 4-8 meetings with Chinese partners, for a total of 43 one-to-one meetings scheduled between UK and China companies.

As an outcome of this event, business in both the UK and China went on to explore further collaboration with InGAME International, including: participation in our wide-ranging inform and scope exercise, through one-to-one research interviews; development of further event ideas and talks; knowledge sharing; and development of additional R&D activity as part of our partnership support mechanisms. The UK companies involved continue to explore routes to collaboration with Chinese partners, including discussions with publishers with regards to market entry in China.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://transcripts.gotomeeting.com/#/s/a9b60ef3cf74c9e132b030c5519d0afe36fc56b820c1c2d9313539ca95ac...
 
Description The United Kingdom of Games: How to work with the UK games industry 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact About this event;
The UK is a globally renowned leader in games development, publishing and distribution. The UK boasts a multitude of internationally recognised and up-and-coming games companies and is a pivotal location for launching games into the global market. But why do so many international companies decide to set up an office in the UK and work with UK games businesses?

In this Zoom webinar event we sought to promote the UK to Chinese and international investors. Working in collaboration with our partner Ukie, we curated panels with national and regional organisations who shared their thoughts on the UK's impressive ecosystem for games. We also platformed leading UK studios who discussed why the UK so admirably supports their creativity and technical skills.

Who the event was targeted at:
1. International games companies who want to learn how and why they should establish a base in the UK.
2. Any company looking to collaborate with UK games businesses
3. Those looking to invest in the games industry

Who were the speakers:
Ukie and the Department of International Trade discussed why the UK is a great place to make games
InGAME International chaired a panel of different UK regions
Ukie chaired a panel of game studio representatives sharing their thoughts on the strengths of the UK


This was the 2nd of our 3-part 'Investor Forum' series as part of the InGAME International project, following on from our collaboration with Scottish Development International on a virtual mission to China in 2021. We attracted attendees from China to South America, and received feedback on the positive case for investment in UK games.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://innovationforgames.com/2022/03/15/the-united-kingdom-of-games/