The Video Game Industry-Structure

An Introduction to the Computer Game Industry

 

The computer games industry was once a niche form of interactive entertainment, usually dismissed as being for children or teenage boys. Nowadays it is a multi-billion pound industry which rivals the film and hollywood industry. in terms of revenue and prestige.

 

Gaming was considered a "hobby culture", which means it was created by enthusiasts rather than big business, as recently as the 1970's, so it is a very young industry and the way it functions changes constantly. The main reason for this constant changing is the improvement on the technology in which the games are played, as the software and hardware develops more advanced coding and a higher work force is required to create a game worth selling.

The Structure

The games industry is made up of the following institutions:

Developer- Creates the game, for a large scale game this will require a larger team, and vice versa. Games can take anywhere from a few months to a few years to create so the developers job is to create the game to the best of their ability whilst keeping the time used to create the game down.

An example of a developer is Lionhead Studios, who created the Fable franchise

 

Publisher: Takes the game from the developer and handles the distribution of the game to the next step, the distributor. They may also handle some advertising. An example of a publisher is Konami, who do produce their own games however mostly hire other teams to write the games for them.

 Distributor- A distributor works with retailers to make the product available for consumers to buy. An example of a distributor is Lygo International, who distribute Turtle Beach gaming accessories and also some smaller games

Hardware- Hardware manufacturers create the hardware in which the games (software) run on. In the games industry the three major manufacturers are Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, who produce the Xbox, Playstation and Wii respectively. There are many other pieces of hardware in which games can be played on however, such as handhelds, mobile phones and PC's.

Consumer- The audience. Anyone who buys, plays or downloads games.