70’s and 80’s Arcade

Arcade games were the first major milestone in the computer games industry. Games were developed by developers/publishers who then distributed the games via machines throughout various locations across the world. Financial transactions took the form of coins put into the machines and the gain was clear. This involves a large investment but the financial returns were clear.

2010+ Observe, Measure and Modify

With the number of retail game purchases rapidly declining it is believed that there will soon be no more physical goods purchased this means there will be no more need manufacture, transport, store and distribute game content on disk. This is very cost effective for the publishers but opens the market up to much smaller indie game companies who could not previously afford to mass market their home made games. Another rapidly growing standard is the use of player monitoring which allows companies to watch how their players play and react to the games they play and react to them further developing and refining their games. User generated content is another feature rapidly expanding in the gaming industry (Skyrim’s Steam workshop recently reached 30,000,000 downloads) which allows gamers not only to customise their gaming experience but allows game developers to earn more from their games without themselves developing new content (as more people will buy the game for its mod capabilities).

1980-2010 Box, Ship, Done

With most games now being played on home consoles the gaming industry became very lucrative. Game developers wouldn’t produce games that couldn’t run on one of the major platforms thus to play the most popular games consumers had to purchase the consoles making Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo powerful driving forces in the gaming industry as no game could be made for their consoles without their permission. It was around this time that pc and homebrew consoles games become popular but the inconsistency with pc specs meant that the market was to unstable and many of the major developers avoided the area.

Where Will The Income Come From?

As digital transactions are increasing in popularity so is online gaming. Games like World Of Warcraft (10 million subscribers paying £9 a month) having such success have prompted many companies to opt for a subscription model of online gaming while others opt for a ‘pay to win’ model where players can only access a games best features and equipment by paying and many more. Onlive.co.uk is another rapidly growing aspect of the gaming industry it allows players to rent games for a period of time and play them on the cloud without need for downloads or consoles.