Research On Cross-Cultural Marketing Strategies Of China’s Mobile Games In The American Market

With the popularity of the Internet and smart phones,mobile games present a huge development advantage and potential.Mobile games,which have become one of the most important entertainment activities for modern people after daily study and work,have a broad market.However,due to the tightening of domestic Internet regulation,the suspension of ISB approval and the notice on preventing minors from becoming addicted to online games and other factors,the competition in China’s domestic mobile games market is extremely fierce.China’s game companies have to go abroad to find new growth space.Therefore,"going abroad" is the inevitable choice for domestic mobile games.Exploiting the overseas market can not only create economic value,but also carry the important responsibility of national culture export.At present,the revenue of China’s mobile games in the overseas market is close to half of the domestic mobile games market.Although the competitiveness of China’s mobile games in the global game market has gradually boosted and its market share has gradually expanded,due to the existence of cultural differences,the overseas marketing of China’s mobile games faces a complex environment and high business risks,and its failure cases of the overseas marketing are not rare.How to successfully implement cross-cultural marketing strategies overseas and occupy the huge market is an important mission for China’s game companies to develop the overseas marketing strategies.Therefore,it is necessary to study China’s mobile games going abroad from the perspective of cross-cultural marketing."Genshin Impact" is an open-world role-playing game developed by miHoYo,which has achieved a great success,especially in America."Genshin Impact" won the TGA "Best Mobile Game" award,which is known as the "Oscars of the gaming industry" and other game awards.In the whole year of 2021 and the first half of 2022,"Genshin Impact" continued to be the top-grossing game in the U.S.In addition,it appeared on the famous American newspapers such as the Washington Post and the Forbes."Genshin Impact" is the successful case of cultural export of domestic mobile games and a model of domestic games going abroad.In the overseas market,especially in the United States,"Genshin Impact" has achieved such a great success because of its successful cross-cultural marketing strategies.The United States is the largest mobile game market except for China,and it is also the primary target market for China’s mobile games going abroad.Whether China’s mobile games can successfully go abroad depends largely on if they can implement adequate cross-cultural marketing strategies.Therefore,taking "Genshin Impact" as the research object and analyzing its cross-cultural marketing strategies in the American market can provide enlightenment for China’s mobile games to go abroad,which is also the significance of this thesis.This thesis consists of eight parts:the first part is the introduction,which introduces the research background,theoretical significance,realistic value,structure and methodology;the second part is the literature review,which contains the research literature of domestic and foreign scholars on mobile games,cultural marketing and cross-cultural marketing;the third part is the theoretical framework,which summarizes the theory of mobile games,marketing and culture,cultural marketing and cross-cultural marketing,SWOT analysis and 4Ps of marketing;the fourth part reviews the background of the case and introduces the current situation of China’s mobile games going abroad,the current situation of the U.S.mobile game market,the development status and marketing environment of "Genshin Impact" in the American market;the fifth part conducts a SWOT analysis of the development of"Genshin Impact" in the American market from the perspective of culture;the sixth part combines the American cultural characteristics and conducts a specific study on the cross-cultural marketing strategies implemented in the American market,such as cross-cultural product strategies,cross-cultural price strategies,cross-cultural place strategy and cross-cultural promotion strategies;the seventh part,taking the actual situation in China and the United States into account,discusses the potential problems and feasible recommendations of "Genshin Impact" in the American market,and provides enlightenment for China’s mobile games to go abroad;the last part provides a summary of the whole thesis in a systematic way.The study shows that the success of the cross-cultural marketing strategies of"Genshin Impact" in the American market relies on the cross-cultural product strategies of high game quality and precise product positioning;the cross-cultural price strategies of innovative pricing model and high-quality-high-price pricing strategy;the cross-cultural place strategy of focusing on the mobile application stores and the emerging game platforms;and the cross-cultural promotion strategies of landmark advertising,international exhibition brand marketing,anime exposition word-of-mouth marketing,new media marketing,online gaming community and event marketing."Genshin Impact" also faces obstacles and challenges in its development in the United States,including the lack of cooperation with local American brands and the lack of game content adapted to American culture.According to the problems,this thesis proposes two feasible recommendations:cooperate with American catering brands for crossover marketing and develop game content adapted to American culture.In addition,the thesis argues that the cross-cultural marketing strategies of "Genshin Impact" in the United States are important enlightenment for China’s mobile games going abroad:create high-quality mobile game products,enhance independent research and development technology,choose target market accurately,focus on cultural adaptation and integrate the Chinese culture into the target market cultures.Mobile games going abroad is a complex cross-cultural communication phenomenon.As a product of cultural content,mobile games need to face challenges brought by different political and socio-cultural backgrounds when they are spread in other cultures.At the same time,mobile games going abroad have become a new form for China to spread its excellent culture overseas and shape its national image.In view of this,this thesis takes the cross-cultural marketing strategies of "Genshin Impact" in the United States as an example,trying to provide insights for China’s mobile games to expand overseas markets,seize a rare chance to catch up,spread China’s excellent culture,and increase China’s cultural soft power.