Conference theme: The Ages of Games. Epochs and Periodisations

Programme Details: https://www.history-of-games.com/2026-hong-kong/

Introduction

History is often divided into epochs, be they ages, periods, dynasties or eras. The history of popular culture is no different: cinema, for example, has the cinema of attractions, the silent period, the age of vanguards, post-war movements such as the New Waves or the Italian Neorealism, the New Hollywood, the age of V-Cinema and OVA, and the international rise of independent films. Similarly, games and video games have Golden Ages, revolutions, generations, crashes, and many other popular ways to identify discrete segments of their own histories. To study the history of games is to think about epochs defined by shared traits and bookended by transformative events.

How is this periodisation done, and by whom? Who are the stakeholders of this conceptualisation? What are the main criteria to define periods? How does the concept of epochs differ between the spheres of academia, criticism, and popular gaming culture? Epochs can be proposed and accepted by the public according to technology, impact of/on other areas outside of the medium, and even artistic trends and movements. They often tell a unified story that is useful in simplifying the ebbs and flows of the history of the medium, but can hide key events, actors, and regions.

For History of Games 2026, we invite you to consider periodisation: for example, already established and accepted periods, alternative ones, problematisations of epochs or international and regional periods and their coexistence. What are the best ways to discuss gaming’s epochs, and what methods can be used to anchor them? What can we learn (and unlearn) by questioning these ages of games? Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

- The periodisation of games culture: events, magazines, communities

- Regional periods, their differences and similarities with “universal” history

- The periodisation of genres

- Key historical elements ignored by popular periodisation

- Grey markets and their (lack of) periodisation

- The epochs of historiography, preservation, and collecting

- The concept of “classic” in games history and culture

- Fan periodisation

- Key events and elements of history for periodisation

- Technology and periodisation

- The impact of and on games as a periodisation criterion

- Epochs and canon(s)

- Art and artistic movements in the periodisation of games

- Representation of periods in games, e.g. Graeco-Roman elements in contemporary games

- Hardware cycles/generations as periodisation (e.g. consoles, PCs, arcades, mobile gaming, etc.)

- Periods of monetisation: from sale to free-to-play

- “Periods” of specific ongoing games: e.g. World of Warcraft major patches

Keynote Speakers

Prof. Akiko Sugawa-Shimada (Professor, Graduate School of Urban Innovation, Yokohama National University)

Prof. Paolo Pedercini (Associate Professor of Art, School of Art, Carnegie Mellon University)

Registration (For General Audience)

https://forms.gle/LtEie9M8NmD4Nrrz9

Programme (updated as of 11 June 2026)

https://www.history-of-games.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/History-of-Games-2026_Draft-Programme_11June.pdf

More details

https://www.history-of-games.com/2026-hong-kong/

https://www.scm.cityu.edu.hk/events/history-of-games-2026