Video Game research

Production


E3 the huge yearly games expo is on later this month, it's where all the big games companies showcase their upcoming titles and give us a glimpse into the near and long term future of the industry.


THE GAMES INDUSTRY

Introduction
The games industry, once a niche form of interactive entertainment often dismissed as being for children or teenage boys, is now a multi-billion pound industry that rivals the film industry in terms of revenue and prestige.

Institutions
The games industry is made up of the following institutions:

Developers
Games are created by development studios comprised of software engineers, artists and programmers who write the code, create the structure and animate the game making them playable for gamers.

Publishers
These are companies that are responsible for the marketing and distribution of the game.

Distributor
A distributor works with retailers (shops, online) to make product available for the consumers to purchase. In the games industry the Publisher usually handles the distribution.

Hardware manufacturers
While developers create software, other companies create the hardware that the games run on.


Distribution
The final cost of publishing a game that we'll delve into is the distribution of the game, and that's the process of getting the game sold to wholesalers and then to retailers where you'll then have a chance to buy it. Wholesalers typically pay around $30 per game and with the costs of getting the goods to the wholesalers, any co-op advertising or marketing, and return of good contingencies being roughly $14 per game, the publisher is going to typically get $16 for every unit sold.


Consumption


The BBC have investigated how people play videogames and also what type of games we play. The report is a PDF file and features a number of differnet profiles of gamers. The age range of players is varied and covers ages 6-65.


Videogames are not just about randomly conquering worlds, beating your best friend at Mario Kart or even being unbeatable at Pro Evolution Soccer. They can have another purpose and cover current affairs, one example of how this can be done is by using a game such as The Movies where one user, Koulamata has created a movie about the French Riots that happened last summer.