About

Western Game Dev, also known as Western Game Dev Has Been Here. How Can You Tell?, refers to a viral debate and series of memes mocking cliches and common aspects of Western video game development and developers, most specifically triple-A (AAA) game sizes often being over 100GB due to high-resolution textures, detailed models, large open worlds and other features.

The meme started on Reddit in November 2019, with users comparing Western and Japanese (or Eastern) game developers in terms of character design. In April 2023, a recaption version of the White Man Has Been Here meme gained viral traction on Twitter / X, which consists of adding high data size numbers in a game's file to spot a "Western game dev." Other common subjects of such memes poking fun at Western devs includes their tendency to have more politically charged elements in games, as well as the difference in attractiveness of in-game characters compared to Eastern devs.

Origin

The earliest memetic content about Western game devs was posted on November 11th, 2019, by Redditor u/wohdinhel, who posted a Virgin vs. Chad meme titled "The Virgin Western Game Developer VS The Chaddo Japanese Game Developer" to the /r/virginvschad^[1] subreddit channel. The image (seen below) received roughly 160 upvotes and 10 comments in six years.

The most notable version of the Western game dev meme, however, was uploaded on iFunny^[2] by user @lehfe on April 12th, 2023, who recaptioned a White Man Has Been Here meme, replacing the original texts with a conversation of two indigenous people spotting a "Western game dev" by the 105GB game size. The post amassed over 13,000 likes and 429 comments in two years.

Spread

Debates and jokes about Western game devs continued to gain prominence with recaptioned versions of the White Man Has Been Here meme, adding different gigabit game sizes and other gaming features commonly applied by Western developers that aren't well received by many in the gaming community.

For instance, on July 16th, 2023, iFunny^[3] user @h57lat6m5s5221 posted a version of the meme adding several gaming studios' apology statements after poorly received game releases, like Cyberpunk 2077 and Forspoken. The post (seen below) received more than 4,500 likes and 300 likes in two years.

On June 19th, 2023, American YouTuber^[4] and Twitch streamer Asmongold reacted to some memes and discussions regarding the Western vs. Eastern game dev debate, amassing more than 525,000 views and 24,000 likes in two years.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References