From industry development to social influence: video games in Chinese newspaper coverage, 2010–2020

Through quantitative content analysis, this study outlines the media construction of video games in Chinese newspapers in the period 2010–2020 from four aspects: dominant themes, tones, benefits–threats, and stakeholders. The findings indicate that the dominant themes of game coverage shifted from the commercial and industrial fields to social concerns, while the tone toward gaming became more negative. Entertainment remained the most prominent benefit of gaming in media coverage, while media concerns about game addiction increased immensely. Notably, game developers increased their presence as information sources. They were also the dominant responsibility takers for the gaming impacts in 2010–2015, after which the media more frequently attributed responsibility to all stakeholders.