2.1 ESG and Corporate Sustainability
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors have become key criteria in evaluating corporate performance (Li et al., 2023; Cantele et al., 2024). The United Nations (UN) defines ESG in three dimensions: environmental, social, and governance. These dimensions emphasize enterprises’ influence on the natural environment, relationships with stakeholders, and internal governance structures. As global sustainable development advances, companies are increasingly embedding ESG in their strategic decisions (Kao, 2023). Unlike traditional CSR, ESG offers quantifiable metrics driven by investor demand and regulatory pressure (Eccles & Klimenko, 2019). In China’s video game industry, firms integrate ESG beyond compliance to align with sustainability goals, reflecting a balance across the economic, social, and environmental dimensions (Zumente & Bistrova, 2021; Simon, 2021).