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How to Cite Video Games in APA Format

As the popularity of video games increases in the past couple of decades, more and more social scientists are studying this phenomenon. Consequently, the American Psychological Association has set guidelines on referencing video games for academic journals. Video games are classified in the computer software category in the sixth edition of the APA manual, published in 2009. To provide references of a video game, you will treat it as computer software. Proper APA formatting is essential in giving credit to the rightful intellectual property owners and in keeping the standard of academic research.

Instructions

- 1
  Type the name of the video game in regular title font. Do not italicize, underline, or put quotation marks. Indicate the version of the game in parentheses if available. Do not put any period or comma.
- 2
  Put [Computer software] immediately after the title and version number. Put a period after the bracket. APA formatting style recognizes video games as a category of computer software. Again, do not italicize the words. If available, type the release year in parentheses after the period.
  
  At this step, you should have typed Video Game Name (Version X) [Computer software]. (Year).
- 3
  Locate the location and the name of the company in which the video game was produced. If available, put city, state in abbreviation: company or publisher's name.
  
  Now, your citation should contain Video Game Name (Version X) [Computer software]. City, State: Company name.
- 4
  Skip the location and company information if the video game can be downloaded online and provide the website instead. In the place of the publisher position, type Retrieved from http://xxxx
  
  Now, your citation should contain Video Game Name (Version X) [Computer software]. Retrieved from http://xxxx

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