Marketing of Video Games - The Video Game Industry: Formation, Present State, and Future - page 57

In a way the industry feeds on itself. The game industry has a proven
track record of evolutionary growth and of assimilating new technology,
driving the technological change into their products. Put another way, the
growth of the video game industry together with constant improvement of
Internet technologies have provided us with an environment where the mar-
ket and digital entertainment have converged. There is no doubt that this
development will continue. At the same time, the economic model seems
to be changing for a considerable number of developers, from subscription
to micro-transactions. This change means that the gamer, the participant,
will be subjected to more purchasing decisions once inside a game world—
decisions that without any doubt will bring with them not only virtual
goods, but physical goods to be enjoyed in the physical world. 19
Finally, we are really seeing the initial stages of marketing being adapted
to the specifi c of erings of video games to specifi c segments. In this stage
some of the creativity that initially went into developing the games them-
selves is going into some of the promotion opportunities. We are not sure
where it will end, but we anticipate it will carry with it some of the excite-
ment that gamers fi nd in their playing of games.
NOTES
1. This thinking is perhaps best described by Hall's (1959) classic treatment
defi ned by his “Map of Culture,” not really a map but a 10x10 matrix,
described as a “primary message system (PMS)” to assist in analyses of cul-
tures. It was suggested that by sticking to one PMS at a time, it would be pos-
sible to start intercultural comparisons. Recreation was one of the adjectival
counterparts in that matrix.
2.. See http://www.theesa.com/facts/gameplayer.asp. (Downloaded 9/13/2011)
3. See http://www.marketingpower.com/_layouts/Dictionary.aspx. (Downloaded
9/15/2011)
4. Hardcore gamers are persons that spend much time playing games and have
a deep knowledge about game titles and game mechanics.
5. The listing here is for entertainment games. Of course, there are other list-
ings that might be developed for specialty games for specialty fi elds such as
education (for this growing fi eld, see, for instance, Marklein 2011).
6. In game development it seems to be a common practice to run these as agile
projects, most following the SCRUM methodology.
7. Using oneself as a reference is not unique to video game developers. Akrich
(1992, 1995) refers to this process as the I-methodology, where “I” is both
developer and expert user: the person deciding what to build and the person
evaluating the success of this decision.
8. As most, if not all, games today have the capability to connect online with
the developer a practice of continuously publishing patches of the game after
it has been launched has been established. These patches contain updates of
the game that both correct errors (bugs) and provide new content.
9. See www.economist.com/node/21541163 (a ccessed December 17, 2011).
10. A similar kind of relationship exists for the PC market between Valve's dis-
tribution platform Steam Network and publishers/developers.