Call for Papers!
History of Games 2026
25-27th June, City University of Hong Kong, School of Creative Media
City University of Hong Kong, 25-27 June 2026
Conference theme: The Ages of Games. Epochs and Periodisations
https://www.history-of-games.com/2026-hong-kong/
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
Submissions
Submissions of a 500-word abstract (excluding references) to the Histories of Games 2026 conference are welcome and will be double-blind peer-reviewed. Please make sure the submission is anonymous and that references to your own work, if used, are included in a way not allowing the identification of the author (i.e. avoid saying “in my previous work [citation]”).
Please note that to ensure equity and access to the conference, no author may present more than two contributions to the conference. This includes single- and joint-authored submissions.
Submissions should be sent here: https://www.history-of-games.com/openconf/openconf.php
Important dates
Submission opens: 2 Feb 2026
https://historyofgames.site/openconf/openconf.php
Submission Closes: 1 March 2026
Notifications of Acceptance: Sent to authors by 10 April 2026
Conference: 25-27 June 2026
Participants will have the option to select an online presentation when registering. Further details to follow, including conference fees, news on our keynotes and more!
Updates will be available at https://www.history-of-games.com/2026-hong-kong
Programme Committee:
Tomasz Majkowski, Jagiellonian University, Kraków
Regina Seiwald, University of Birmingham
Souvik Mukherjee, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta
HaJo Backe, ITU Copenhagen
Local Organising Committee:
Espen Aarseth, CityU (conf chair)
Leon Xiao, CityU.
Peichi Chung, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Ben Horn, Hong Kong University
Johnathan Harrington, Hong Kong Baptist University
Jussi Holopainen, CityU
Morgan YU Hao, CityU