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The purpose of this study is to identify and evaluate the video game ecosystem development in the context of socioeconomic and technological progress while analyzing the role of stakeholders in the video game industry for regional markets' growth.

The paper exploits technological and socioeconomic data in 25 countries grouped into the regions, as a methodological approach that allows identifying and evaluating the determinants of the video game industry's ecosystem development. The authors applied econometric modeling to understand technological, economic and social determinants forming video gaming industry growth in regional markets.

Different types of stakeholders are involved in the video game industry performing particular functions. Using econometric modeling for advanced and developing economies countries, we have found that different stakeholder groups and their engagement dynamics in the video gaming industry directly depend on socioeconomic and technological effects in certain regions of the world.

This study contributes to the knowledge within forming creative clusters around video gaming industry in developed and developing economies countries. The findings bridge the gap between quantitative and qualitative research in stakeholder-related characteristics, and key factors affecting the development of the video gaming market. The analyzed database of industry revenues within specific global regions shed the light on the future functionality of the ecosystem development in the new normal world.

Indie developers are part of the creative fringe of the video game industry, fashioning an identity for themselves as a community committed to the development of video games as a cultural expression and art form. In playing this role, money-making is ambiguous inasmuch as economic return is honorable if such interests remain unarticulated and execute minimal influence on the development work process, while the possibility of producing a successful commercial video game is simultaneously one of the primary motivations for new industry entrants. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

The paper reports on the empirical material drawn from a study of indie video game developers in Sweden, a leading country for video game development.

To reconcile tensions between video game development in terms of being both cultural/and artistic production and business activity, easily compromising the perceived authenticity of the subject in the eyes of audiences (e.g. hardcore gamers), indie developers distinguish between monetary motives ex ante and compensation ex post the release of the game. Indie developers thus emphasize the metonymic function of money as this not only indicates economic value and currency but also denotes a number of business practices that indie developers have otherwise avoided in their career planning as they believe these practices would restrain their creativity and skills.

The study contributes to the scholarship on video game development, the literature on creative industries, and the economic sociology literature examining the social meaning of money and how social norms and values are manifested in professional ideologies and practices.

The PGA Tour/Tiger Woods golf series was examined for brand and product placement and found to have 2,100 identifiable brand images, with all but one occurring in the final three years. Brands appearing most frequently included Oakley, Nike, adidas, TW Nike and Tag Heuer. By product category, Nike was leader in equipment (36%) and Oakley in apparel (31%). The results indicate that video games are increasingly seen as viable marketing avenues.

The purpose of this paper is to identify, characterize, and discuss paradigm shifts that have occurred in the video game industry with some emphasis on competition and competitiveness.

Basically, the paper depends upon a review of the literature associated with video game development. Past history is taken from texts and academic papers dealing with the subject. More current observations are taken from the business and popular press. These observations are placed within a context associated with the classic papers on industry evolution, paradigms, paradigm shifts, competition, and competitiveness.

It is difficult to capture present shifts in such a fast‐growing industry, but these shifts seem clear: the original entry of video games into the arcade sector that led to the industry and the demise of pinball; the development of the home cartridge and console that made the industry a home‐based phenomenon; the entry of independent game‐publishers that made the industry a two‐tiered one; and the development of massively multiplayer online role‐playing games (MMORPGs) that changed the way games are played.

The video game industry is an interesting one to follow. To an extent, its development characterizes our generation – fast paced, technologically oriented, and targeted toward the young and young at heart. This paper takes the subject away from a historical or anecdotal approach and places it within the context of industry evolution, paradigms, and paradigm shifts. It thus should be of value to students of not only video games, but also the evolution of rapidly growing industries and establishment of competitive advantages.

This work discusses gender issues related to the video game medium, addressing its production, consumption, and media repercussions. It begins with an overview of the emergence of the video game with the targeting of audiences that focused on sales campaigns to consumers along gendered lines that amplified the dominance of men in the space. The discussion then focuses on numerous ways that the gaming industry as a whole perpetuates a culture of misogyny. Empirical examples are provided of harassment, attacks, and the controversial event known as GamerGate. Subsequently, the complicated history of Brazilian video gaming development is presented to draw parallels with the development of the industry and the market in the United States. Finally, the chapter concludes with suggestions to stimulate new producers, developers, and video game scholars who are committed to building a more aware and diverse community.

This paper aims to investigate children’s experience as consumers of video games and associated digital communication technology, and the role this experience may play in their evolving senses of identity.

Qualitative depth interviews and discussions were conducted in a convenience sample consisting of 22 children of both genders aged 6-12 years, parents and video games company executives in the southwest of the UK. The fully transcribed data sets amounting to some 27,000 words were analysed using discourse analysis.

The findings revealed the heightened importance that the knowledge of video games plays in children’s strategies for negotiating their nascent sense of identity with regard to peer groups, family relationships and gender identity. Video games were not only a leisure activity but also a shared cultural resource that mediated personal and family relationships.

The study is based on an interpretive analysis of data sets from a small convenience sample, and is therefore not statistically generalisable.

This study has suggested that there may be positive benefits to children’s video game playing related to aspects of socialisation, emotional development and economic decision-making. An important caveat is that these benefits arise in the context of games as part of a loving and ordered family life with a balance of activities.

The study hints at the extent to which access to video games and associated digital communications technology has changed children’s experience of childhood and integrated them into the adult world in both positive and negative ways that were not available to previous generations.

This research addresses a gap in the field and adds to an understanding of the impact of video games on children’s development by drawing on children’s own expression of their subjective experience of games to engage with wider issues of relationships and self-identity.

This chapter analyses the marketing management practices for the video games industry in Turkey. To identify the extended value chains and define the critical success factors in this local environment, we invited the members of OYUNDER – Game Developers, Designers and Publishers Association in Turkey – to participate in an online survey. The following three main research questions guided this survey: (1) How video game developer companies resolve marketing decisions, decide on their marketing mix and create marketing plans; (2) how they perceive the importance given to marketing in their industry and (3) how they measure and judge the success of their marketing activities. Results indicate that Turkish video game developers are predominantly male and young. They organise and work in small teams. They lack marketing planning as indicated by actualised versus expected revenues and marketing spendings. Only 23.7% of the participants report employing marketing-related staff and their opinions of marketing-related business partners – such as advertising and PR agencies – are negative due to these institutions’ perceived lack of industry experience. The developers mainly use social media channels and digital advertising for their marketing needs. Above-the-line advertising is the least used channel, with content, influencer and below-the-line marketing channels ranging in the middle. They report confidence in managing campaigns for social media, digital marketing and content marketing. However, they believe that they lack the skills to manage above-the-line and below-the-line marketing activities, reporting lack of capital and human resources as the main barriers. Although they believe that marketing can help them reach new customers, they are also afraid to take risks and admit to being conservative in marketing practices.

This article aims to discuss the relevance of building video game collections in academia to support research and learning on campus and to propose useful criteria for building video game collections in academic libraries.

The authors examined collection development policies of selected academic libraries as well as research discussing the cultural, historical, and educational value of video games. The authors also examined video game playback devices, games and their packaging, and popular game web sites.

The authors outline selection considerations for developing video game collections and propose the following criteria for selecting games: physical characteristics, teaching and learning principles present in the games, subject matter and content, and the cultural and historical value of a game.

Establishing video games in libraries is not a new topic, but most discussions have been focused on public libraries or the entertainment value of video games in academic libraries. This article focuses on games as serious objects of study in academia and provides best practices for video games collections development.