The Gaming industry had a wide audience of gamers by the 1980s, as these years exploded with many creative, innovative games and gaming ideas. The industry was blowing up with new producers creating different ways to play games, different types of games and as a result many skilled players emerged. Huge companies that we know today, such as Konami, Sony, Nintendo and even EA were at the beginning of their success, to go on to be very popular companies. Creating games started to require more people in bigger groups. Instead of 2 or more people, it now takes thousands of teams of people working under one big company.
Back in the early days of gaming, money was never a big issue, as games created today take millions of pounds and larger groups of technicians to create one product. This is due to the complexity of the way games are made now days with different mechanics, graphics and sounds.
Back in the early days of gaming, money was never a big issue, as games created today take millions of pounds and larger groups of technicians to create one product. This is due to the complexity of the way games are made now days with different mechanics, graphics and sounds.
Similar to the movie industry, the games industry has established collaborations with studio and production houses that develop Third party games on behalf of the publishers or for themselves. This way they can raise the finance or take a risk assessment.
Along with the in-house owned third party Games, independent gaming studios carry out their own work and earn actual fee for it. The games publishers own the rights to the games, as they pass them out as products ready to be bought, taking the bulk on revenues and commercial risks. Basically a Video/Computer game is the final product of many companies and the effort of different groups of skilled people that were involved. The two main parts of this process are the Game Development and Game Publishing. The Development involves groups of animators, artists, designers and programmers who intern create the product to be published.
The are developers and publishers; developers create the game, what it actually will be, where as publishers handle the finances, marketing and distribute them to retailers, such as GAME or CEX. Then comes the manufacturing side of games, which is handled by the companies at the very top of the food chain, such as SONY, Nintendo and Microsoft. Nintendo tends to focus more on their handheld devices such as the DS and WIIU.
Whereas with Xbox and PlayStation its different,(Sony and Microsoft) of which they only have home consoles, but they have implemented supportive apps that add to the service of PlayStation plus or Xbox Live.
These companies make their own games and can purchase other studios to develop their games. Other companies such as Rockstar, Electronic Arts or Code Masters have massive advantages as they are independent publishers who also create their own games at the same time therefore they can publish their own games. Meaning they were created under their own development studio or another independent studio.
Independent studios are usually made up of 20 or so people in a group. Some small independent companies tend to focus more on console-led games, where as others concentrate on quick turnaround titles for handheld devices or mobile phones. Such companies go on to having larger groups when successful with more income, from 10 or 20 to multiple groups of 200 or more, working on different projects simultaneously.
First party publishers such as Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo which hold license for each of their own console hardware, exist because games can be distributed to different platforms, meaning they hold license for the games that are played on their platforms/hardware. Although games published on PCs don't need to be licensed as PCs have no formal licensing, hence why so many people have it as their first choice.
Recently there's been introduced new developments into gaming, first is the internet and the emergence of the online multi-player gaming. This means that gamers can now access the internet through their consoles. Now they can also play against one another or even collaborate in team based games such as COD or Halo. Many of the most famous titles now have online capabilities allowing players to test themselves against other players around the world.
The second major development is where the new generation of mobile phones and other handheld devices opened up an entire new world of in game interaction.
The Production Process
For games to exist, they need to be recognised as a well functioning game, it needs to be developed, edited, published by many different types of companies that are responsible for almost every aspect of the entire game. This is called the value chain.
Developers are apart of the productions studios and consist of the games designers and creators, they're job roles vary from over 100 different types in the industry, with just under 5 freelance workers.Most of these jobs are found under the productions companies with a massive range of different roles with different disciplines.
Game developers can work under publishers or be independent but at the same time can be apart of publisher groups such as EA. Just like EA, their are many other different studios that exist across many countries. Their will always be a concentration of developers in some areas with clusters of studios that are constantly active, such as Manchester or Liverpool.
Game projects can either be commissioned by a publisher straight away, or they can be initiated by a developer to take it on to a publisher for further funding.
Publishers are big home based companies that are responsible for handling the marketing, promotion, distribution, and usually also handle the finance of the project. Most of these companies are located right here in the UK with home-grown exceptions. Publishers control which games can be created as they decide whether the game is publishable. Jobs in the publishing world involve commissioning, product/financial management, developer liaison, marketing, product strategy and market research.
Console Manufacturers/First Party Publishers are the companies that make the hardware for consoles, mainly work for companies such as Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft. These companies work behind the scenes, known as the gatekeepers of all console line decisions that have been made, due to their level of power in the industry, as they design future technology in the games industry. If the do not approve of certain hardware, then it will not be created. They also own the development companies outright and so have control of the whole production process. For example, Hideo Kojima Productions was bought out by Sony, over some disagreements that they came across when creating the next Metal Gear. Another example is when when Naughty Dog was acquired by Sony in 2001, and now they provide exclusive games for the PlayStation such as The Last of us.
Distribution and Retail - Physical: Physical distributions sell product titles to the retailers, delivering the games straight from the warehouse, on to the reserved shelf spaces that are kept empty for major titles.
Digital: Ever since the games industry became connected to the internet, games have become a big part of online purchases, this means that producers can also sell their games digitally. Now days games are bought on console owner websites, such as Steam or PlayStation. Selling games this way has proven to be efficient as it completely reduces money spent on storage space, transportation and physical cases for the game disks.
Now that mobile gaming has become a major part of the gaming world, companies such as Android, Apple, Sony and Microsoft basically control how games are distributed and played. Surprisingly, most of the control is held by the distribution and retail companies.
Outsourcing Companies Provide productions companies the sources that they need for their Art, animation and design, such as gaming engines and Programming to help with rendering of graphics. Audio and sound can also be provided for localisation of the company.
Press and Media plays a massive part in the gaming industry, as they are the eyes of the public, they control how games are shown and what people "should" be buying/what they want to buy/need to buy. they do this through Magazines, Reviews, websites, television, In conclusion, press and media can greatly affect the failure or success of a game by using customer manipulation.
Along with the in-house owned third party Games, independent gaming studios carry out their own work and earn actual fee for it. The games publishers own the rights to the games, as they pass them out as products ready to be bought, taking the bulk on revenues and commercial risks. Basically a Video/Computer game is the final product of many companies and the effort of different groups of skilled people that were involved. The two main parts of this process are the Game Development and Game Publishing. The Development involves groups of animators, artists, designers and programmers who intern create the product to be published.
The are developers and publishers; developers create the game, what it actually will be, where as publishers handle the finances, marketing and distribute them to retailers, such as GAME or CEX. Then comes the manufacturing side of games, which is handled by the companies at the very top of the food chain, such as SONY, Nintendo and Microsoft. Nintendo tends to focus more on their handheld devices such as the DS and WIIU.
Whereas with Xbox and PlayStation its different,(Sony and Microsoft) of which they only have home consoles, but they have implemented supportive apps that add to the service of PlayStation plus or Xbox Live.
These companies make their own games and can purchase other studios to develop their games. Other companies such as Rockstar, Electronic Arts or Code Masters have massive advantages as they are independent publishers who also create their own games at the same time therefore they can publish their own games. Meaning they were created under their own development studio or another independent studio.
Independent studios are usually made up of 20 or so people in a group. Some small independent companies tend to focus more on console-led games, where as others concentrate on quick turnaround titles for handheld devices or mobile phones. Such companies go on to having larger groups when successful with more income, from 10 or 20 to multiple groups of 200 or more, working on different projects simultaneously.
First party publishers such as Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo which hold license for each of their own console hardware, exist because games can be distributed to different platforms, meaning they hold license for the games that are played on their platforms/hardware. Although games published on PCs don't need to be licensed as PCs have no formal licensing, hence why so many people have it as their first choice.
Recently there's been introduced new developments into gaming, first is the internet and the emergence of the online multi-player gaming. This means that gamers can now access the internet through their consoles. Now they can also play against one another or even collaborate in team based games such as COD or Halo. Many of the most famous titles now have online capabilities allowing players to test themselves against other players around the world.
The second major development is where the new generation of mobile phones and other handheld devices opened up an entire new world of in game interaction.
The Production Process
For games to exist, they need to be recognised as a well functioning game, it needs to be developed, edited, published by many different types of companies that are responsible for almost every aspect of the entire game. This is called the value chain.
Each
sector has an influence on the type of games that are produced:
Developers
Publishers
Console Manufacturers/First Party Publishers
Distribution and Retail - Physical and Digital
Outsourcing Companies
Press and MediaDevelopers are apart of the productions studios and consist of the games designers and creators, they're job roles vary from over 100 different types in the industry, with just under 5 freelance workers.Most of these jobs are found under the productions companies with a massive range of different roles with different disciplines.
Game developers can work under publishers or be independent but at the same time can be apart of publisher groups such as EA. Just like EA, their are many other different studios that exist across many countries. Their will always be a concentration of developers in some areas with clusters of studios that are constantly active, such as Manchester or Liverpool.
Game projects can either be commissioned by a publisher straight away, or they can be initiated by a developer to take it on to a publisher for further funding.
Publishers are big home based companies that are responsible for handling the marketing, promotion, distribution, and usually also handle the finance of the project. Most of these companies are located right here in the UK with home-grown exceptions. Publishers control which games can be created as they decide whether the game is publishable. Jobs in the publishing world involve commissioning, product/financial management, developer liaison, marketing, product strategy and market research.
Console Manufacturers/First Party Publishers are the companies that make the hardware for consoles, mainly work for companies such as Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft. These companies work behind the scenes, known as the gatekeepers of all console line decisions that have been made, due to their level of power in the industry, as they design future technology in the games industry. If the do not approve of certain hardware, then it will not be created. They also own the development companies outright and so have control of the whole production process. For example, Hideo Kojima Productions was bought out by Sony, over some disagreements that they came across when creating the next Metal Gear. Another example is when when Naughty Dog was acquired by Sony in 2001, and now they provide exclusive games for the PlayStation such as The Last of us.
Distribution and Retail - Physical: Physical distributions sell product titles to the retailers, delivering the games straight from the warehouse, on to the reserved shelf spaces that are kept empty for major titles.
Digital: Ever since the games industry became connected to the internet, games have become a big part of online purchases, this means that producers can also sell their games digitally. Now days games are bought on console owner websites, such as Steam or PlayStation. Selling games this way has proven to be efficient as it completely reduces money spent on storage space, transportation and physical cases for the game disks.
Now that mobile gaming has become a major part of the gaming world, companies such as Android, Apple, Sony and Microsoft basically control how games are distributed and played. Surprisingly, most of the control is held by the distribution and retail companies.
Outsourcing Companies Provide productions companies the sources that they need for their Art, animation and design, such as gaming engines and Programming to help with rendering of graphics. Audio and sound can also be provided for localisation of the company.
Press and Media plays a massive part in the gaming industry, as they are the eyes of the public, they control how games are shown and what people "should" be buying/what they want to buy/need to buy. they do this through Magazines, Reviews, websites, television, In conclusion, press and media can greatly affect the failure or success of a game by using customer manipulation.
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