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China and the World: Navigating Video Game Localization and Copyright Challenges
  • ISSN: 1757-191X
  • E-ISSN: 1757-1928

Abstract

Mechanical licences are used in the music industry to permit publishers and songwriters to be paid for their work, and to allow musical works to be better shared. In recent years, video games have gained great economic and cultural importance, but they are at an increasing risk of becoming unplayable due to being often locked to specific hardware. Authorizing fans and content producers to use mechanical licences to remake their favourite video games would aid preservation efforts and serve as a reliable income source for original publishers. Conceptually, musical works and video games are similar enough to enable the mechanical licence scheme to be applied to games without many alterations to the legislation of the United States, United Kingdom and China. If adopted, this would ensure games do not get locked behind aggressive intellectual property strategies or get lost due to only being able to run on certain platforms.

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2024-01-30
2026-04-15

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/content/journals/10.1386/jgvw_00078_1
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  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): compulsory licences; copyright; games; intellectual property; international law; music; software

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