Video games contain huge technological productivity and deserve further research and attention

Source: Global Times

Editor's note: On November 10, the plenary session of the European Parliament passed the first resolution on the development of the video game industry with a high vote, calling on Europe to formulate a long-term development strategy and attach importance to the cultivation of game talents and support for start-ups. The reason why Europe has raised the gaming industry to such a high strategic height. In essence, it is fancy to the scientific and technological innovation value behind the entertainment attributes of games. At present, video games are becoming a new productive force to promote advanced scientific and technological innovation such as 5G, chips, and artificial intelligence, and realize cross-border applications in industrial simulation, smart cities, film and television creation and other fields. In recent years, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Australia and other countries are also giving higher economic and technological strategic significance to the video game industry, and the role of games in scientific and technological innovation and cultural export deserves further research and attention.

"A testing ground for cutting-edge technology"

"In the past, we used to play single-player Contra with a controller on the 'red and white machine', but now we can wear virtual reality (VR) glasses and share a metaverse world with people around the world. This is the result of scientific and technological progress. An employee engaged in game operations at ByteDance told the Global Times.

As the employee puts it, technology is the "driving force" that drives gaming. But it cannot be ignored that video games are also pushing technology in different fields in reverse. In July this year, the research team of the Chinese Academy of Sciences released the report "Game Technology - New Technology Cluster in the Process of Digital and Real Integration" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report"), which for the first time estimated that game technology has a contribution rate of 14.9%, 46.3% and 71.6% to the scientific and technological progress of the chip industry, the high-speed communication network industry and the AR/VR industry, respectively. "The playful nature of video games obscures its scientific attributes, so game technology has long been neglected." The Report emphasizes that, in fact, games and technologies reinforce each other, forming new social productive forces in symbiosis with each other. It can be said that video games are a "by-product" of computer technology and artificial intelligence research.

Bernard Marr, an opinion leader in business technology, wrote an article for Forbes magazine that many of the cutting-edge technologies that can impact our lives are often seen first in the video game industry, from artificial intelligence, VR/AR, and 3D simulation technology to blockchain and metaverse.

"Because game products are the most likely to make people, especially young people, intuitively recognize the value of new technologies and be willing to pay for them, and these funds can continue to support the development and iteration of new technologies." In addition, the upgrade of game software and hardware will also force the upgrading of the communication industry, chip technology, and electronic devices such as mobile phones and computers. For example, cloud gaming, which requires higher network transmission speed and resolution, has made fuller use of 5G technology. Hong Tao, CEO of GameLook, a Chinese game industry research website, told the Global Times that it can be said that video games are a testing ground for cutting-edge technologies.

In an article on the Headstuff website, "the pioneering nature of the gaming industry has inspired technological advances in various fields," and it is the creative use of some technologies by the gaming industry that has led other fields to follow suit. For example, the gesture sensing technology of Nintendo consoles has inspired wearable devices that can "translate" sign language; VR technology can replicate dangerous scenes, provide training for firefighters, and more.

"In the tide of digital society, game technology has gradually moved from the background to the foreground, from auxiliary to core, and from hidden to explicit." Liu Yi, a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Culture and Economy of Central University of Finance and Economics, mentioned in a recent report that at present, game technology has been applied to more social fields, creating more value and possibilities in talent training, scientific and technological innovation, solving public issues, and social welfare. The "Report" of the Chinese Academy of Sciences also wrote that game technology will become the next generation of important infrastructure for the digital-real integrated society, and will realize cross-border applications in the fields of cultural tourism and cultural protection, industry and automation, film and television production, smart cities, medical and medicine, etc.

It is industrial competition and cultural protection

It is precisely because of the great value of video games in addition to entertainment attributes that many countries are increasing their policy preferences and support for the video game industry.

More important than the adoption of a resolution to boost the EU video game industry, the European Parliament recognized that "video games are an integral part of Europe's cultural heritage and should be protected and promoted," according to British media Lexology. Although the resolution is not legally binding, it means that the European Union recognizes that video games contain scientific, cultural and educational values other than the economy. Hong Tao told the Global Times reporter that in recent years, Europe has been deeply influenced by video games in the United States and Japan, and in order to protect local culture and values, they have begun to gradually pay attention to the research and development, originality and talent training of video games.

According to a report released by the American Entertainment Software Association at the end of 2020, the American gaming industry has become an important part of American culture and a key engine of U.S. economic growth.

In Saudi Arabia, the video game industry has become an important force in diversifying the country's economy away from dependence on oil revenues. Saudi News Agency reported that on September 16 this year, Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Salman announced the "National Strategy for Gaming and E-Sports", which plans to make Saudi Arabia a global hub for the gaming and e-sports industry by 2030, creating 39,000 jobs and helping Saudi Arabia achieve Vision 2030. This includes launching business incubators, developing regulations to promote industry development, and sponsoring and hosting major events. Local media sources believe that the game industry will not only generate a lot of profits in itself, but will also become one of the main sources of tax revenue for Saudi Arabia. For a long time, Australian state governments have also introduced favorable policies such as tax credits to attract overseas game developers to expand the global influence of the country's game development industry.

At the same time, the mainland is also paying more attention to the video game industry. Bloomberg said in a Nov. 30 commentary that China's ambitions to develop the video game industry have surpassed Japan's. The original Chinese game Genshin generated $1.3 billion in revenue worldwide last year, more than all mobile games in Japan, the article said. In addition, Chinese companies hire Japanese game talent with high salaries, which is a wake-up call for the increasingly influential Japanese game industry.

"Video games are the carrier of culture, but also the embodiment of a country's scientific and technological level, only a 'strong country' with a complete industrial chain and abundant talents can develop good game products." Hong Tao said in an interview with the Global Times reporter, "China's Internet technology and digital economy is developing rapidly, paying more attention to its own culture, and more and more game products that can 'go global' have emerged." In order to accelerate the overseas process of the game industry, on July 18 this year, the Ministry of Commerce and other 27 departments jointly issued the "Opinions on Promoting the High-quality Development of Foreign Cultural Trade", mentioning that it will actively cultivate export competitive advantages in online games and other fields, cultivate a number of internationally renowned brands in games and other fields, and further affirm the cultural output value of games.

To develop the game industry, China has not neglected regulation

As far as the industry is concerned, video games have got rid of the pure entertainment attribute and become an important driving force for science and technology in major countries. The mainland maintains an attitude of equal emphasis on development and supervision of the video game industry.

In mid-November, the State Press and Publication Administration released the approval information of domestic online games in November 2022, and a total of 70 games were approved. The US consumer news and business channel said in a related report on November 23 that this will be more conducive to the healthy development of Chinese game developers. At the same time, many places in China announced support plans for the game industry. According to a November 25 report by the South China Morning Post, Hangzhou, a fertile ground for the growth of Chinese start-up technology companies, has pledged to allocate 100 million yuan a year to support the development of the animation game and e-sports industries. A local government spokesman said: "We should dig deeper into the combined value of games, culture, technology and innovation to further create a good ecosystem for the game industry." According to reports, it is expected that by 2025, the total annual revenue of Hangzhou's animation game and e-sports industry will exceed 60 billion yuan. In late September, the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports proposed to build Shenzhen into an international e-sports capital leading the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, radiating the whole country and facing the world, and promised to provide subsidies for related enterprises.

In fact, the huge value derived from the development of the game industry has been proven in many fields in China. At this year's Beijing Winter Olympics, the "3D+AI" technology provided by Chinese technology companies made the judges' scores more accurate and the spectators more interesting to watch. Various scenic spots and museums in China have successively realized artificial intelligence virtual human guides; From high-end forums to graduation ceremonies, the "metaverse" has participated in the daily lives of ordinary Chinese. According to Li Qiang, Vice President of Tencent Group and President of Tencent Government and Enterprise Affairs, with the help of game engine and edge computing capabilities, Tencent is jointly exploring the construction of a "fully true interconnected digital factory" with the large steel industry, calling real-time data on the production line to achieve 1:1 restoration of the production line process in a specific section and improve production efficiency. An expert in the game industry told the Global Times that the digital game industry is helping China's real economy burst out with stronger productivity.

At the same time, Hong Tao reminded that although the voice of support for the development of the game industry is increasing, it should be noted that China's "parents" have not completely taken off the "colored glasses" of viewing video games, and the national policy on the game industry is still mainly supervised, and the support is weaker than that of Europe and the United States. Fang Xingdong, executive director of the Center for Public Diplomacy and Strategic Communication of Zhejiang University, also told the Global Times that compared with some developed countries, the negative externalities of China's game industry are still not well managed, and the core problem is how to achieve a balance between new productivity and excessive entertainment.