Chinese tech giants are snapping up gaming studios around the world

LONDON – After decades of the U.S. and Japan dominating the gaming space, China's influence is growing as its tech giants snap up gaming studios around the world.

Now, some experts think video games could look a little different in the coming years as a result.

Questions are being asked about whether the Chinese owners of U.S. and European studios will try to influence the games they make, or indeed use them to promote Chinese values. It remains to be seen but subtle changes could happen in the coming years, according to some experts.

"Some of these values might be different from what many expect," British-Chinese writer Lu-Hai Liang told CNBC. "For example, Chinese female gamers are a massive market (500 million) and there have been many female-focused games and game studios that revel in this sector."

Thomas David, a semiconductor engineer in the U.S., told CNBC that he thinks gamers could start to see more titles where the "good guy" is Chinese and the "bad guy" is from the West, for example.

China's own gaming market is heavily regulated. It does not allow games that contain certain political views, gambling, gore, nudity and many other things to be released and sold in its home market. The movie industry is equally strict, with U.S. films having to be adapted before they can be released in China.