The Evolving European Video Game Software Ecosystem - The Video Game Industry: Formation, Present State, and Future - page 218

the national markets are still unevenly developed, leaving room for more
growth. As underlined in the European Competitiveness Report 2010
(European Commission 2010, chap. 5), the EU still does not have a clear
comparative advantage in the fast-growing video game sector, but has
nonetheless made considerable progress.
The disruptive trends we highlighted will generate further changes in
already dif erentiated business models, and the end result is still an open
issue. Who benefi ts, now and in the future, in economic terms, from the
growing video games market—currently a battlefi eld—remains to be seen.
If we follow a Boston Consulting Group (2011) typology proposing fi ve
distinct business models, we have not only the legacy models and one that
become recently particularly important with the growth of the smart-
phone market, the device-centred one (pioneered by Apple with iTune and
Apple apps), but the distributor-centred model (built upon an infrastruc-
ture capacity: fi xed and mobile operators, cable and satellite operators), the
search-centred model (Google, Yahoo), going beyond the existing one, and
the community-centred model (YouTube, Twitter; we noted the importance
of Facebook for the distribution of online games).
Each of these players is trying to derive the most of their respective
assets. One of the features to emphasize is that the farther the (new) player
is from the legacy players the less likely the player will abide by legacy
rules. Apple intrusion in music and now books of ers a clear illustration
of how the rules can be disrupted. This phenomenon is not restricted to
the video game subsector but is common to the entire media and content
industry, probably one of the main impacts of digitization. It brings as well
a reshul ing of regional players, the EU leads on telecom distribution, but
the domination of the U.S. is increasing in at least three models: devices,
aggregator and community.
What is the policy response to this state of play and trends? At the Euro-
pean level there is already some support for game development through the
MEDIA program (De Prato et al. 2010, 154). In general it could be said
that, given the strategic potential and relevance of the video game market
for the economy and the importance of its software segments, it is some-
what surprising to fi nd that such a vibrant global, digital industry has not
received much attention from policymakers in Europe, with the exception
of a few countries (e.g. France that introduced, among other things, a 20
per cent tax credit in 2008, 14 some Nordic Countries and the UK). This
contrasts sharply with the proactive sectoral policies designed by Canada
and South Korea (see further De Prato et al. 2010, 150-153; Simon 2012b)
and is despite the increased awareness of the positive role of the creative
industries in fostering growth and innovation. Indeed, the European Com-
petitiveness Report 2010 stresses that the economic rationale for govern-
ment intervention in favour of creative industries is based on the notion
that this sector constitutes a signifi cant locus of economic dynamism in the
post-industrial world (European Commission 2010, 218).