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medium, where the aesthetics, values and artistic preferences are cultivated
in an increasingly esoteric manner. The industry, markets and medium are
not idle—quite the opposite, they evolve rapidly, but only within the con-
fi nes of this subculture.
The subcultural perspective elucidates many of the mechanisms of the
video game phenomenon: production, medium and consumption. It explains
how the video game industry and markets have transformed early adopters
into hardcore gamers and then into a highly specifi c and complex subculture
centred around the game medium. It has been fuelled by new countries, new
console generations and new generations of gamers. Most likely this expan-
sion has culminated, which has caused a commercial, creative and artistic
crisis, predominantly within the industry. The infi nite expansion proponents
claim that this is a temporary crisis, and that it has shed its overreliance on
the hardcore target group—it is now successfully targeting casuals, seniors,
women and every other part of the society. The subcultural perspective
shows that the game industry continues, despite claims otherwise, to rely on
the hardcore subculture. This is vindicated by the popularity of the hardcore
genres on the top-sales lists and by the fact that these games represent the
lion's share of the profi table total market size.
The previously discussed industry spiral illustrates what type of indus-
trial mechanisms and structures that contribute to the reinforcement and
maintenance of the hardcore subculture. It shows how the symbiotic rela-
tionships between console manufacturers, third-party publishers and devel-
opers contribute to a global system that capitalizes, nurtures and upholds
the subculture. The subculture is vibrant, enthusiastic, communicative and
Web-based with dynamic discussion forums, blogs, clubs, game servers and
dedicated media.
The subcultural perspective also proposes an explanation as to why video
games are not embraced by mass culture—a subculture is by defi nition not
embraced by majority culture. The majority doesn't understand the subcul-
ture and consequently refrains from adopting its expressions and manifes-
tations. Games such as the Gears of War FPS franchise, which are not only
dii cult to play (due to the complicated shooter game mechanics and how
they are translated by console controllers), but are also incomprehensible
to a wider majority culture audience with its appalling quasi-narrative,
cliché-based dialogues, esoteric aesthetics and fi nally its of ensive amount
of gory violence. Most importantly the subcultural perspective implies that
the game industry cannot/will not understand the majority culture—it is
primarily interested in its own subculture. Simply put: the nuances and aes-
thetics of the contemporary video game medium are imperceptible to most
parts of society, and conversely the logic of the majority culture is dii cult
to ef ectively understand for the minority game subculture.
By positing the game industry, medium and gamer community as a
dynamic and global subculture, a more comprehensive perspective of
the game phenomenon is provided. Further investigations are needed to
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