[…]during the late 90s and early 00s, Taiwan was a powerhouse of game development, arguably only behind the US & Japan. They produced hundreds of games, played by millions of Chinese language speakers, going as far as influencing local literature and TV. Modern hits like Naraka: Bladepoint are openly advertised as spiritual successors of that lineage.

But we don’t talk about Taiwanese games. For a myriad of reasons, from language barriers to plain old sinophobia, they are not part of the “video game canon”. They don’t matter, it’s a small, local thing.

And is not just Taiwan.

In 2019, Mia Consalvo & Christopher A. Paul published Real Games. The book examines why some games are seem as legitimate and worth talking about but not others — why Counter-Strike, StarCraft and EverQuest are “real games”, but Kim Kardashian: Hollywood and Mystery Case Files aren’t.

The book identifies three main areas that are commonly discussed when assessing if a game is “real” or not — the game’s pedigree (its developer), the contents of the game itself, and its payment structure.

This helps us understand how games like Free Fire can reach 150 million daily users but have basically zero presence in gamer circles & media — it’s a free-to-play battle royale mobile game created in Vietnam.

But I think the book lacks a fourth area, rarely discussed openly, but just as important: Who is playing these games?

[…]popular games in India will never be discussed outside of the country unless they’re first presented via a US-based media like IGN, because few non-Indians read Indian games media — even if it is in English. China is another great example — Black Myth: Wukong isn’t the first Chinese hit on Steam, its impact comes from being the first one to grab Western media & gamer’s attention.

Different nationalities all have their own game history, their cultural memory, with their own hits and particularities, but they’re rendered invisible to anyone but themselves.