Full Description
Video games have entered the cultural mainstream and now rival established forms of entertainment such as film or television in terms of economic profits. As careers in video game development become more common, so do the stories about precarious working conditions and structural inequalities within the industry. In Game Production Studies, an international group of researchers takes a closer look at the everyday realities of video game production, ranging from commercial studios to independent creators. Across sixteen chapters, the authors deal with issues related to labour, production routines, or monetization, as well as local specificities. As the first edited collection dedicated solely to video game production, this volume provides a timely resource for anyone interested in how games are made and at what cost.
Contents
Introduction: Olli Sotamaa & Jan †velch: Why Game Production Matters?
LABOUR
Chapter 1: Brendan Keogh: Hobbyist Gamemaking between Self-Exploitation and Self-Emancipation
Chapter 2: Aleena Chia: Self-Making and Game Making in the Future of Work
Chapter 3: Vinciane Zabban & Hovig Ter Minassian: Should I Stay or Should I Go? The Circulations and Biographies of French Game Workers in a "Global Games" Era
Chapter 4: Pierson Browne & Brian R. Schram: Intermediating the Everyday: Indie Game Development and the Labour of Co-Working Spaces
DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 5: Olli Sotamaa: Game Developers Playing Games: Instrumental Play, Game Talk, and Preserving the Joy of Play
Chapter 6: Mia Consalvo & Andrew Phelps: Performing Game Development Live on Twitch
Chapter 7: Chris J. Young: Unity Production: Capturing the Everyday Gamemaker Market
Chapter 8: John Banks & Brendan Keogh: More than One Flop from Bankruptcy: Rethinking Sustainable Independent Game Development
PUBLISHING & MONETIZATION
Chapter 9: David B. Nieborg: How to Study Game Publishers: Activision Blizzard's Corporate History
Chapter 10: Lies van Roessel & Jan †velch: Who Creates Microtransactions: The Production Context of Video Game Monetization
Chapter 11: Matthew E. Perks: Regulating In-Game Monetization: Implications of Regulation on Games Production
MARGINS
Chapter 12: Jaroslav †velch: Promises of the Periphery: Producing Games in the Communist and Transformation-Era Czechoslovakia
Chapter 13: Anna M. Ozimek: Construction and Negotiation of Entrepreneurial Subjectivities in the Polish Video Game Industry
Chapter 14: Akinori Nakamura & Hanna Wirman: The Development of China's Games Industry - From Copying to Imitation to Innovation
Afterword: Aphra Kerr: Before and After: Towards Inclusive Production Studies, Theories, and Methods
Complete Bibliography
Index
