Gamasutra - Feature - "A Week in Shanghai: Gamasutra Explores the Chinese Game Market in Person"


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Gamasutra
August 2, 2006

A Week in Shanghai: Gamasutra Explores the Chinese Game Market in Person

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Features

A Week in Shanghai: Gamasutra Explores the Chinese Game Market in Person

Last week, Gamasutra had a chance to visit Shanghai, in order to explore the Chinese video game market in unprecedented detail. We explored the multiple facets of the game biz in China during our weeklong stay, from the raucous, crowded ChinaJoy game show, which showcased the latest Chinese MMO and casual online games, to the swiftly burgeoning outsourcing companies located in Shanghai and elsewhere in China, where costs for top quality game artists can be as low as 1/10th of a Western salary.

China, despite labyrinthine Government-related bureaucracy at times, is now and will be even more so of major importance to the worldwide game market, and, as we wrote in the introduction to our first article on the region:

"On the way to my hotel from the airport, it's clear that Shanghai is the in the midst of a significant boom - massive new multi-level apartment buildings in various stages of construction dotted the side of the road on the way from the Pudong Airport. And, even though the roads were populated with a combination of souped-up BMWs and trucks containing pigs or watermelons, the amount of tech companies setting up in the industrial parks along the way showed this is, in many ways, a rising force."

Read on for full information from the week's write-ups, including a brand new interview with Ubisoft Shanghai head Corinne Le Roy on her company's massive presence producing AAA games in China.

Ubisoft Shanghai's Eastern Promise [08.02.06]

As the final update in Gamasutra's series of reports on the Chinese game market, we visited the 15th floor Shanghai offices of major worldwide publisher Ubisoft, to talk to studio head Corinne Le Roy and take the pulse of a development studio that is, in many ways, a parental figure to today's Western-facing development scene in the vibrant city.

The State Of The Chinese Game Biz [07.24.06]

In our first report on the state of the Chinese gaming industry, we focused on China's booming MMO market, from World Of Warcraft to media alarmism.

What Chinese Gamers Look For In MMOs [07.25.06]

As part of Gamasutra's look at the game market in China, Shanghai-based MMO creator Monte Singman relays some great insight into what Chinese MMO gamers actually care about.

Xbox 360 Piracy Spreading Fast In China [07.26.06]

As part of Gamasutra's visit to Shanghai for this week's ChinaJoy game exhibition, we've discovered that Xbox 360 game piracy appears to be spreading notably in the country, with at least one vendor offering Xbox 360 titles such as Hitman: Blood Money for around 30 Chinese yuan ($3.50).

Inside China's Game Outsourcing Biz [07.27.06]

In another exclusive report, we look at console game outsourcing, and speak to the CEOs of two major Chinese firms about their experiences creating art assets, ports, and even entire console games for top companies such as EA, Midway, Microsoft, and Vivendi.

Special: Hachenburg On EA China's Plans [07.31.06]

The penultimate Gamasutra report on the Chinese market talks to Electronic Arts' China manager Erick Hachenburg, as the publishing giant staffs up to target the indigenous Chinese market with games such as Pogo and FIFA Online - exclusive details inside.

End