Chinese Video Games Turn Cultural Heritage Into Global Advantage

Recent titles from China’s gaming industry are underscoring the value of embedding culture in next-generation entertainment. The sector’s integration of innovative motion technologies, storytelling grounded in history and distinct cultural appeal has resonated with international audiences in a highly competitive market, collectively demonstrating China’s growing visibility in global gaming.

Look no further than “Where Winds Meet,” an action role-playing game that attracted millions of players shortly after its release. The role-playing genre is notoriously difficult to execute well, requiring complex systems for character customization and player choice. The role-playing game market is fiercely competitive, with recent releases like “Clair Obscur: Expedition 33” and “Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2” vying for players’ attention. But Chinese games are carving out a distinct niche through cultural storytelling. “Marvel Rivals” showcases traditional martial arts, while “Where Winds Meet” and “Wuthering Waves” immerse players in China’s historical periods and legends.

In modern gaming, ingenuity takes many forms. In a market characterized by swift competition, constantly evolving technological features, and growing demand, China’s culturally rich titles have become a hallmark of its gaming sector. Chinese games like “Marvel Rivals,” “Fallen Feathers,” “Tafu Xing,” “Blame Ninjas” and “Justice Sword” are gaining international recognition by leveraging distinctive cultural content. Consider “Where Winds Meet”: Set in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907-979), its strong cultural grounding has contributed to its international acclaim.

With well-established companies such as Tencent aiding China’s video game development, the country is better positioned to use gaming as a vehicle for soft-power projection. The move carries weight: There is a need to augment international understandings about China’s culture – including food, music, tradition, ancient philosophy and its fast-paced modernization drive – through mediums with widespread appeal. Gamers worldwide, from children to young adults, actively seek diverse gaming experiences. China has capitalized on this opportunity by combining cutting-edge gaming technology with storytelling grounded in historical events.

China is also in the process of opening-up and stands to benefit from a global gaming industry with revenue projected to grow 6% from 2026 to 2030.

Many factors favor China’s chances: It has an outstanding ability to nurture the next generation of gaming startups and is heavily invested in sharing its cultural heritage with national and international audiences through expos, student ambassadors, university programs, cultural festivals and sports. China is using gaming as a vehicle to advance new understandings about its cutting-edge innovations, evident in the growth of the industry and the various markets it has been able to penetrate through world-acclaimed investors and innovation houses.

Therefore, integrating culture into acclaimed gaming titles can help future Chinese developers break into the fast-growing global market. With global gaming revenue set to reach $350 billion by the end of this decade, Chinese gaming titles – and their production houses – have ample incentive to become revenue-generation vehicles, benefiting global consumers and the international entertainment industry in the process.

China’s success in translating recreation into meaningful, high-value activities removes all doubt about its ability to achieve similar transformative gains in the gaming industry. The country has demonstrated this multiplier effect in other entertainment sectors. “Every yuan spent on a [winter sports] ticket drove 7.3 yuan in additional consumption,” said Wu Haiyun, a provincial commerce official, in an interview with Xinhua recently. He also made clear that the Chinese Super League, the country’s top professional soccer league, has yielded more than 38 billion yuan ($5.2 billion) in associated spending.

These examples illustrate China’s ability to drive economic value from entertainment without compromising the audience experience. China’s gaming titles that incorporate indigenous elements, martial arts and celebrated figures like Bruce Lee offer comparable potential.

It would be a mistake to view modern-day gaming as merely an entertainment offering. China understands this, integrating traditional art and culture into major gaming franchises to appeal to international audiences. For instance, “Marvel Rivals” has transcended the basic attributes of a shooter game to become an interactive, globally competitive experience that showcases Chinese martial arts. The title represents a conscious effort to bring martial arts traditions to global audiences – underscoring substantial cultural value. Chinese titles like “Where Winds Meet” are achieving major success, attracting more than 2 million players within 24 hours of release and demonstrating the power of culturally distinctive gaming.

The literary and cultural content underpinning “Where Winds Meet” is a key part of its appeal. By showcasing key elements of China’s heritage, the game transforms how China projects interactive experiences to global audiences. Thousands of positive reviews on the gaming platform Steam underscore its appeal. The game’s emphasis on the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period leads into China’s “golden age” of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), showcasing major advancements, from gunpowder to scientific and technological breakthroughs.

The game immerses players in these historical periods through economic systems and heritage sites that recreate the era, showcasing China’s gaming innovation in a new light. The open style of “Where Winds Meet” also allows traditional culture to be customized and shaped based on user preferences, merging the traditional aspects of Chinese heritage with modern gaming. This is China’s competitive edge.

Hannan Hussain is co-founder and senior expert at Initiate Futures, an Islamabad-based policy think tank.