The video game industry (formally referred to as interactive entertainment) is the economic sector involved with the development, marketing and sale of video and computer games. See also Game development and Video games ' The phrase interactive entertainment refers to the business of producing and distributing products Economics is the social science that studies the production distribution, and consumption of goods and services. A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual that creates Video games A developer may specialize in a certain video In popular usage "marketing" is the promotion of products especially Advertising and Branding However in professional usage the term has a wider meaning of A video game is a Game that involves interaction with a User interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. A personal computer Game (also known as a computer game or simply PC game) is a Video game played on a Personal computer, rather It encompasses dozens of job disciplines and employs thousands of people worldwide.
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Overview
Once a niche market and considered by some as a curiosity in the mid-1970s, the computer and video game industry took in about USD$9. This article is about the Decade 1970-1979 For the Year 1970 see 1970. The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been 5 billion in the US in 2007 (ESA annual report). The Entertainment Software Association (ESA is the Trade association of the Computer and video game industry in the United States
The modern computing world owes many modern computing innovations to the game industry. A personal computer ( PC) is any Computer whose original sales price size and capabilities make it useful for individuals and which is intended to be operated The following computing elements owe their lineage and development to the game industry:
- Sound cards: developed for addition of digital-quality sound to games. A sound card (also known as an audio card is a Computer Expansion card that facilitates the input and output of audio signals to/from a computer under Later improved for music and audiophiles.
- Graphics cards and 3D graphic accelerators: were developed for graphical user interfaces (GUIs) and games. A video card, also known as a graphics accelerator card, display adapter, or graphics card, is a hardware component whose function is to GUIs drove the need for high resolution, games drove 3D acceleration. They also gave one the opportunity to use multiple graphics cards in one computer (such as with SLI or CrossFire graphics cards). Scan-Line Interleave ( SLI) from 3dfx is a method for linking two (or more Video cards or chips together to produce a single output
- CD ROM drives: were developed for mass distribution of media in general, however games use is probably instrumental in driving their ever higher speeds. CD-ROM (an initialism of "Compact Disc Read-Only Memory " is a pre-pressed Compact Disc that contains data accessible to but not writable
- Unix: developed, in part, so that the programmers could play a space traveling game. Unix (officially trademarked as UNIX, sometimes also written as Unix with Small caps) is a computer A programmer is someone who writes Computer software. The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computer programming or to a generalist [1][2]
In addition, many of the higher powered personal computers are purchased by gamers who want the fastest equipment to power the latest cutting-edge games. IBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. Historically the term " gamer " usually referred to someone who played Role-playing games or wargames. Modern games are among the most demanding of applications on PC resources, so the latest hardware is often targeted at this sector likely to purchase and make use of the latest features. Thus, the inertia of CPU development is due in part to this industry whose applications demand faster processors than traditional applications.
Disciplines
The game industry employs those experienced in other traditional businesses, but some have experience tailored to the game industry. For example, many recruiters target just game industry professionals. A recruiter is someone engaging in Recruitment, which is the solicitation of individuals to fill jobs or positions within any group such as a Corporation Some of the disciplines specific to the game industry include:
Most of these professionals are employed by video game developers or video game publishers. A game programmer is a Programmer who primarily develops Video games or related Software (such as Game development tools. A "game designer" is a person who designs Video games or one who designs traditional games such as Board games Video Games Designer A video game designer A level designer is a person who creates levels challenges or missions for computer and/or Video games using a specific set of programs These A game producer is the person in charge of overseeing development of a Video game. A game artist is an Artist who creates art for one or more types of Games Game artists are responsible for all of the aspects of Game development that call A game tester analyzes Video games to document software defects as part of a Quality control process in Video game development. A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual that creates Video games A developer may specialize in a certain video A video game publisher is a company that publishes Video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a Video game developer However, many hobbyists also produce computer games and sell them commercially. A hobby is a spare-time Recreational pursuit Etymology A Hobby horse is a wooden or Wickerwork toy made to be
History
William Higinbotham, a scientist, created "Tennis For Two" in 1958. William (Willy A Higinbotham ( October 25, 1910 - November 10, 1994) an American Physicist, is credited with creating Tennis for Two was a game developed in 1958 on an Analog computer, which simulates a game of Tennis or Ping pong on an Oscilloscope It was never commercially released because it wasn't an actual video game. It was meant to be an electrical experiment.
By the late 1970s, the computer game industry formed from a hobby culture, when personal computers just began to become widely available. This article is about the Decade 1970-1979 For the Year 1970 see 1970. The industry grew along with the advancement of computing technology, and often drove that advancement. Today, the video game industry is a juggernaut of development; profit still drives technological advancement which is then used by other industry sectors. Though maturing, the video game industry is still very volatile, with third-party video game developers quickly cropping up and, just as quickly, going out of business.
In Asian countries, notably Japan and Hong Kong, the video game medium did not reach major popularity on a mass scale until the arrival of the manga series Game Center Arashi in the late 70s. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. Hong Kong ( officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located on China 's south coast on the Pearl River Delta, and borders ˈmɑŋgə is the Japanese word for Comics (sometimes called komikku コミック and print Cartoons In their modern form manga date from shortly is a Japanese Manga by Mitsuru Sugaya, which ran in CoroCoro Comic from 1978 to 1984 The series helped the public understand the possibility of the product and the entertainment value at the cultural level.
Economics
The video game industry is currently facing financial strains as it attempts to fairly compensate its talent, while continuing to turn a profit. The result is that the game developer—the traditional source of new games—is essentially dying out or is being incorporated into large publishers. The game industry is currently experiencing a phase of consolidation and vertical integration as a reaction to spiraling costs. This climate has also given birth to vibrant indie game developers comprising tiny companies trying to use the internet rather than traditional retail channels to reach an audience. This is a partial list of independent game developers, Video game developers that are not supported by a publisher.
Early on, development costs were minimal, and video games could be quite profitable. Games developed by a single programmer, or by a small team of programmers and artists, could sell hundreds of thousands of copies each. Many of these games only took a few months to create, so developers could release several titles each year. Thus, publishers could often be generous with benefits, such as royalties on the games sold. Royalties (sometimes running royalties) are usage-based payments made by one party (the "licensee" to another (the "licensor" for ongoing use of an Many early game publishers started from this economic climate, such as Origin Systems, Sierra Entertainment, Capcom, Activision and Electronic Arts. Origin Systems Inc (sometimes abbreviated as OSI) was a Computer game developer based in Austin Texas that was active from 1983 to Sierra Entertainment Inc is a Worldwide American Video game developer and publisher founded in 1979 by Ken and Roberta For the original NASA meaning see capsule communicator. is a leading Japanese International developer Activision Inc is an American Video game developer and publisher.
As computing and graphics power increased, so too did the size of development teams, as larger staffs were needed to address the ever increasing graphical and programming complexities. Now budgets can easily reach millions of dollars, even if middleware and pre-built game engines are used. A game engine is a software system designed for the creation and development of computer and video games A game engine is a software system designed for the creation and development of computer and video games Most professional games require one to three years to develop, further increasing the strain on budgets.
Some developers are turning to alternative production and distribution methods, such as online distribution, to reduce costs.
Today, the video game industry has a major impact on the economy through the sales of major systems and games such as, Grand Theft Auto IV, which took in over USD$500 million in sales during its opening week. The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been [3] The game's income was more than the opening weekend of Spider-Man 3 and the original title holder for a video game Halo 3. For the video game based on the film see Spider-Man 3 (video game. Halo 3 is a First-person shooter Video game developed by Bungie exclusively for the Xbox 360. [4] Many individuals have also benefited from the economic success of video games including the former chairman of Nintendo and Japan's richest man: Hiroshi Yamauchi. is a Multinational corporation headquartered in Kyoto Japan founded on is a Japanese businessman He was the third president of Nintendo Co [5]
Practices
Video game industry practices are similar to those of other entertainment industries (e. g. the music recording industry), but the video game industry in particular has been accused of treating its development talent poorly. The record industry is the part of the Music industry that sells Sound recordings of Music. This promotes independent development, as developers leave to form new companies and projects. In some notable cases, these new companies grow large and impersonal, having adopted the business practices of their forebears, and ultimately perpetuate the cycle.
However, unlike the music industry, where modern technology has allowed a fully professional product to be created extremely inexpensively by an independent musician, modern games require increasing amounts of manpower and equipment. This dynamic makes publishers, who fund the developers, much more important than in the music industry. A video game publisher is a company that publishes Video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a Video game developer A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual that creates Video games A developer may specialize in a certain video
Breakaways
A particularly famous case is the "original" independent developer Activision, founded by former Atari developers. Activision Inc is an American Video game developer and publisher. Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. Activision grew to become the world's second largest game publisher. In the mean time, many of the original developers left to work on other projects. For example, founder Alan Miller left Activision to start another video game development company, Accolade (now Atari née Infogrames). Alan Miller is a pioneering and influential figure in the Video game industry. Accolade was a Video game developer and publisher of the 1980s and 1990s Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. Infogrames Entertainment SA ( IESA) ( is an international Holding company headquartered in Villeurbanne, Lyon, France.
Activision was popular among developers for giving them credit in the packaging and title screens for their games, while Atari disallowed this practice. As the video game industry took off in the mid-80s, many developers faced the more distressing problem of working with fly-by-night or unscrupulous publishers that would either fold unexpectedly or run off with the game profits. The 1980s was the decade spanning from January 1 1980 to December 31 1989.
Economics
Economic problems remain today with regard to publisher-developer contracts (see copyright: transfer of rights). Copyright is a legal concept enacted by Governments, giving the creator of an original work of authorship Exclusive rights to control its distribution usually for Typically, developers receive a royalty of around 20% of the sales profits, and the rest goes to the publisher. Rather than dividing royalties, many publishers buy the development studio outright. Some developers begrudge the tendency for the studio's original management to leave in the wake of a buyout, while the remaining employees try to finish the project only to be shut down after a few years. These buyouts often result in a big push to finish video game projects in time for the holiday purchasing season, and transfer of creative control to the publisher.
Creative control
Some people disapprove of publishers having creative control since they are more apt to follow short-term market trends rather than invest in risky but potentially lucrative ideas. On the other hand, publishers may know better than developers what consumers want. The relationship between video game developers and publishers parallels the relationship between recording artists and record labels in many ways. The Recording Artists' Coalition ( RAC) is an American Music industry organization that represents Recording artists and attempts to defend their rights But unlike the music industry, which has seen flat or declining sales in the early 2000s, the video game industry continues to grow. The music industry is the business of Music. Although it encompasses the activity of many music-related businesses and organizations it is currently dominated by the "big Also, personal computers have made the independent development of music almost effortless, while the gap between an independent game developer and the product of a fully financed one grows larger.
In the computer games industry, it is easier to create a startup, resulting in many successful companies. A personal computer Game (also known as a computer game or simply PC game) is a Video game played on a Personal computer, rather The console games industry is a more closed one, and a game developer must have up to three licenses from the console manufacturer:
- A license to develop games for the console
- The publisher must have a license to publish games for the console
- A separate license for each game
In addition, the developer must usually buy development systems from the console manufacturer in order to even develop a game for consideration, as well as obtain concept approval for the game from the console manufacturer. Therefore, the developer normally has to have a publishing deal in place before starting development on a game project, but in order to secure a publishing deal, the developer must have a track record of console development, something which few startups will have.
Alternatives
An alternative method for publishing video games is to self-publish using the shareware or open source model over the Internet. The term shareware, popularized by Bob Wallace, refers to Copyrighted commercial Software that is Distributed without payment on a trial Open source is a development methodology which offers practical accessibility to a product's source (goods and knowledge The Internet is a global system of interconnected Computer networks However, it remains to be seen whether freely made and distributed games can survive in the era of multi-million dollar productions.
Japanese video game industry practices
The Japanese video game industry is markedly different from the industry in the US and Europe. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the
Generally, games occupy greater cultural attention in Japan than the U. S. , and its market share of total entertainment in Japan is higher than the U. Market share, in Strategic management and Marketing, is the percentage or proportion of the total available Market or Market segment that is S. Japan has created some of the largest and most expensive titles ever made, such as Shenmue, Final Fantasy and the Metal Gear Solid series of games. is an Adventure game developed by Sega-AM2 and published by Sega for the Sega Dreamcast, produced and directed by Yu Suzuki. is a stealth-action Video game directed by Hideo Kojima. The game was developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and first published
Arcades
Video game arcades are still relatively popular in Japan; for every arcade game released in the US, nine are released in Japan. A video arcade (also known as an amusement arcade in the United Kingdom in Japan or as an "arcade" is a venue where people play arcade video games An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in businesses such as Restaurants Pubs Video arcades and Family Entertainment The history of the Japanese arcade is very significant in the story of the decline of the American arcade, and in the shape of game design in general. Game design is the process of designing the content and rules of a Game. In particular, the arcade scene in Japan has caused them to lag behind in the field of sound effects and sound design, because this is less important in an arcade. For the album by The Jam see Sound Affects. Sound effects or audio effects are artificially created or enhanced Sounds Sound design is a technical/conceptually creative field It covers all non-compositional elements of a film a play a music performance For example, a modern game like Tekken 4 still uses 16 kHz samples like the original arcade release. Tekken 4 is the fifth installment in the Tekken series for the PlayStation 2.
Media
Consoles and arcade games are the main media for Japanese game design; PC games are nowhere near as popular. IBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. This necessarily dictates that there are fewer independently developed games coming from Japan, as it is much harder to develop independently for a console than it is for a PC.
Development environment
The structure and culture of a Japanese game developer is different from a western one. Throughout the history of Japanese game design, many developers have seen fit to remain mostly anonymous, even using pseudonyms to a large degree in video game credits.
Also, the division in labor for video game development is different. For example, Japanese game design teams had a dedicated designer (which they called a "director") much earlier than American design teams adopted the practice. A "game designer" is a person who designs Video games or one who designs traditional games such as Board games Video Games Designer A video game designer
Secondly, Japanese game designers throughout history generally had far more people working on a particular game than a comparable western design team. For example, Street Fighter 2 (1991), a Japanese title, had almost one artist working on every character in the game, plus two programmers and a musician, with the result being a team of twenty or more people. is a 1991 competitive fighting game by Capcom. It is widely credited with launching the fighting game genre into the mainstream and extending the life of the worldwide arcade Mortal Kombat (1992), a comparable American title, was developed by four people: a programmer, an artist, a musician, and a background artist. This article concerns the first entry of the fighting game series A game programmer is a Programmer who primarily develops Video games or related Software (such as Game development tools. The definition of an artist is wide-ranging and covers a broad spectrum of Activities to do with creating Art, practicing the Arts and/or demonstrating A musician is a person who plays or writes Music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music An instrumentalist plays a
See also
- List of gaming topics
- Game Developer magazine
References
- ^ Origins and History of Unix, 1969-1995 in The Art of Unix Programming
- ^ "What's The Greatest Software Ever Written?" Information Week article by Charles Babcock
- ^ "Take-Two Confirms GTA's Half a Billion Week"Kotaku, 2008-05-07. This is a hierarchical list linking to all articles related to Video games. Game Developer magazine is a Monthly trade Periodical for the Video game industry. The Art of Unix Programming by Eric Raymond is a book about the history and culture of Unix programming from its earliest days in 1969 to now InformationWeek is a multimedia brand with a weekly print magazine online site face-to-face and virtual events and research Reverend Charles Babcock (1829 - 1913) was an United States Architect, academic Episcopalian minister and founding member of the American Institute Kotaku is a Blog which focuses on Video games Kotaku is part of Gawker Media 's "Glocker" network of sites which also includes Gizmodo Retrieved on 2008-05-07.
- ^ "Variety: GTA IV Launch Bigger Than Halo 3 (And Then Some)" Kotaku, 2008-04-15. Kotaku is a Blog which focuses on Video games Kotaku is part of Gawker Media 's "Glocker" network of sites which also includes Gizmodo Retrieved on 2008-04-15.
- ^ "Japan's Richest Man Is...Yes, Hiroshi Yamauchi Forbes, 2008-05-07. Forbes is an American Publishing and media company Its flagship publication Forbes magazine is published bi-weekly Retrieved on 2008-05-07.
External links
- comp.games.development.industry (Google Groups)
- International Game Developers Association
- Playing the Game: The Economics of the Computer Game Industry (Cambridge University Press)
- Sloperama: Game Biz Advice (Tom Sloper)
Dictionary
video game industry
-noun
- (video games, economics) The economic sector involved with the development, marketing and sale of video and computer games
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