Full Description
Today, consumers of video games spend over $22.4 billion each year; using more complex and multi-layered strategies, game developers attempt to extend the profitability of their products from a simple one-time sale, to continuous engagement with the consumer. The Evolution and Social Impact of Video Game Economics examines paradigmatic changes in the economic structure of the video game industry from a media effects and game design perspective. This book explores how game developers have changed how they engage players in order to facilitate continuous financial transactions. Contributors look from the advent of microtransactions and downloadable content (DLCs) to the impact of planned obsolescence, impulse buying, and emotional control. This collection takes a broad view of the game dynamics and market forces that drive the video game industry, and features international contributors from Asia, Europe, and Australia.
Contents
Contents
Introduction
Casey Hart
1."Show me the money!" - Shifting Fields of Capital in the Global Game Industry
Casey O'Donnell
2.Nintendo's Retro Revolution: Commodified Nostalgia and the Virtual Console
Steve Cuff and Christopher Terry
3.Business Models, Planned Obsolescence, Externalities: Examining the Virtual Hand of the Video Game Industry
Mark D. Cruea
4.Prestige: A Cyclical Act for Consumer Control
Brent Kice
5.Free-to-play? Considering the interaction of functional factors in video game design influencing the economic effectiveness of microtransactions
Casey Hart
6.P(l)aying Pretty: Consuming Fairy Tales and Device Applications
Emma Whatman
7.Playing with and against Microtransactions: The Discourses of Microtransactions Acceptance and Rejection in Mainstream Video Games
Jan Švelch
8.Smart Players and Happy Consumers: Effects of Game Characteristics and Player Emotional Experiences on in-App Ad Responses
Hsuan-Yi Chou and Shaojung Sharon Wang
9.Gold Farming in
