China’s one of the biggest gaming markets in the world, and games from PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds to League of Legends have seen massive success in the country – even with some harsh restrictions on Chinese game approval. But how do Chinese players feel about the Western companies making many of the world’s biggest games?
CD Projekt Red, for one, is known as Dumb Polish Donkey to Chinese fans. It’s a term of endearment, as Abacus reports, since players see the studio as working tirelessly – like a donkey – to provide free content for its games, unlike the more sly, smarter Chinese companies that profit off of more invasive microtransactions.
Ubisoft is known as the Potato Factory, because of lackluster server infrastructure for online games. (Apparently the ‘potato’ slang crosses language barriers.) Ubisoft’s factory reference is a bit unusual for a foreign company, since factories are seen as a point of pride in socialist nations. Hence why Tencent is known as the Penguin Factory for its arctic mascot, and why NetEase is known as the Pig Factory for its investments in agriculture.
Nintendo gets the affectionate nickname of Old Nin, as you’d refer to an old friend, but some companies get a much rougher verbal treatment.
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After a number of its big games began to feature prominent LGBTQ characters, BioWare became known as GayWare – and that name is used in derogatory terms.