Exploring the Reliability of a Cross-Cultural Model for Digital Games: A Systematic Review

In recent years, the game industry has become one of the most popular and competitive industries. To quickly expand game markets and attract more game players and consumers, a variety of types of games are developed by the companies and developers. Cross-region games are also common in the current game markets. Consequently, a multi-national competition across different cultures or countries is inevitable. For successful expansion of game market, the existence of cultural differences of game players with various cultural backgrounds is one of the notable issues we cannot ignore. Even though there are studies focusing on the relevant cultural differences, there are no study summarizing the past findings. Additionally, no powerful norm has yet been defined, therefore this paper will investigate whether it is feasible to apply the Hofstedes’ Cultural Dimensions Theory, often utilized in Management, to game industries and to be a reliable guidance for game design and development for cross-culture game players.