Changing the Rules of the Game : Economic, Management and Emerging Issues in the Computer Games Industry

The computer games industry is one of the most vibrant industries today whose potential for growth seems inexhaustible. This book adopts a multi-disciplinary approach and captures emerging trends as well as the issues and challenges faced by businesses, their managers and their workforce in the games industry. Few industries fit the description of high turbulence and high velocity better than the computer games industry. Relatively young, rapidly evolving, and frequently experiencing disruptive innovation, its potential for growth and new business opportunities seems barely exhausted. And indeed, in the current economic climate this industry seems positively recession-proof. Those making and those playing games use digital technology to share an enthusiasm for the industry's products that we rarely find elsewhere. This fascination with computer games and gaming and the economic significance of the industry make it one of the most remarkable socio-cultural phenomena of our world. As the industry emerges, we become more aware of the need to trace it and to understand it in all its meanings, and the challenges it poses. The 10 chapters in this book provide an examination of the computer games industry from 10 different perspectives, discussing the following aspects: * The spatial logic of the industry * Business model innovation * Games development - a risky business * Co-production and the role of the consumer * Business sustainability * The place of creativity * Emerging people management challenges * Violent games and work well-being * A critical perspective on games as phantasmagoric commodities * Virtual worlds - blurring boundaries between realities and games Front Matter....Pages i-xi Introduction: Emerging Perspectives on an Emerging Industry....Pages 1-8 Problematizing a Homogeneous Spatial Logic for the Creative Industries: The Case of the Digital Games Industry....Pages 9-27 Commercial Business Models for a Fast Changing Industry....Pages 28-47 The Role of the Consumer: From Sales to Co-production....Pages 48-64 Business Growth, the Internet and Risk Management in the Computer Games Industry....Pages 65-81 ‘Some Companies Are Fine One Day and Gone the Next’: Sustaining Business in the Digital Games Industry....Pages 82-104 The Role of Creativity....Pages 105-121 HR Issues in the Computer Games Industry: Survival at a Price....Pages 122-141 How Funny Are Games? Violent Games Content and Studio Well-Being....Pages 142-165 Critical Perspectives on the Games Industry: Constructs and Collusion....Pages 166-185 The Brief History, Tumultuous Present and Uncertain Future of Virtual Worlds (Terrae Fabricatae) ....Pages 186-210 Back Matter....Pages 211-219