InGAME international pathway to collaboration: Collaboration in Games UK-China

In 2019 the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded a series of projects as part of its UK-China Creative Partnerships Programme. Led by Abertay University in partnership with academic and industry partners across the UK and China, InGAME International was funded through this AHRC programme with the aim of studying the potential for UK-China cooperation and collaboration in the computer games sector. The project is linked to the AHRC Creative Industries Cluster, InGAME: Innovation for Games and Media Enterprise, which is also led by Abertay University in partnership with the University of Dundee and University of St Andrews.

The games industry is one of the largest and fastest growing sectors in both the UK and the Chinese creative economies. In 2023, China was the largest gaming market globally with revenue forecast at $82.064 billion compared with $7.94 billion in the UK (Statista, 2023). The growth in China’s market has long been the source of appeal for UK game developers and publishers seeking new routes to market. However, the divergence between the UK and China in terms of market profile, consumption patterns, leading companies, technologies, regulation, licensing, management, and business culture has presented ongoing difficulties for any UK based developer interested in engagement in- or with- China. It is from this basis that the current study sought to consolidate industry, legal, and regulatory knowhow with a view to providing a valuable resource to games professionals and researchers who have interests in UK-China collaboration.

This Pathway to Collaboration report curates the cumulative knowledge and insight generated during the InGAME International programme, with an intended audience of games industry professionals and researchers interested in UK-China collaboration. At the heart of the research is an unprecedented qualitative study that involved in-depth interviews with 47 leading experts from the UK, China and other territories and with knowledge of games development, business, publishing, marketing, localisation, IP, copyright, regulation, markets, and sales. This report is the first comprehensive qualitative study to investigate the intersection between the UK and China games industries and markets at this scale and depth, providing readers with an invaluable, interactive resource that will support professionals and researchers to initiate new collaborations between the two nations.