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Game development has come a long way from its origins back in the 1970s and 1980s, where small development teams worked over a production cycle of months to produce games. As the processing and graphical capabilities of computers and consoles increased, games became multi-million-dollar projects, developed by large teams over a period of many months, sometimes stretching into years. This led to rationalization in the games industry, especially among large studios and developers, resulting in isomorphism and an increasing similarity of games developed by them. In the late 2000s, the indie games industry took off on the back of digital distribution, allowing small teams to develop experimental and innovative game mechanics and put them out without the support of publishers. However, in the last few years, we have seen an increasingly crowded indie games market, introducing many of the risks to the indie industry that were typically associated with large developers. The purpose of this research was to study their impact, and to investigate whether they have led to isomorphism in the indie games industry. The research was conducted via in-depth interviews with five indie developers, followed by thematic analysis of the data collected through these interviews. Analysis of the data revealed the presence of isomorphic forces that impact the design and production of indie games, as well as the presence of “counter-isomorphic” forces, which act as a counterweight to isomorphism.

Game development has come a long way from its origins back in the 1970s and 1980s, where small development teams worked over a production cycle of months to produce games. As the processing and graphical capabilities of computers and consoles increased, games became multi-million-dollar projects, developed by large teams over a period of many months, sometimes stretching into years. This led to rationalization in the games industry, especially among large studios and developers, resulting in isomorphism and an increasing similarity of games developed by them. In the late 2000s, the indie games industry took off on the back of digital distribution, allowing small teams to develop experimental and innovative game mechanics and put them out without the support of publishers. However, in the last few years, we have seen an increasingly crowded indie games market, introducing many of the risks to the indie industry that were typically associated with large developers. The purpose of this research was to study their impact, and to investigate whether they have led to isomorphism in the indie games industry. The research was conducted via in-depth interviews with five indie developers, followed by thematic analysis of the data collected through these interviews. Analysis of the data revealed the presence of isomorphic forces that impact the design and production of indie games, as well as the presence of “counter-isomorphic” forces, which act as a counterweight to isomorphism.

From fears of issues with potential problematic consequences in the gaming industry stemming from a perceived power-disparity between the industry’s two defined“categories” (AAA and Independent), a study was made to investigate. This qualitative study was made to investigate whether or not certain perceived issues in the industry exist, and whether or not they are problematic (and in what way, if any). After interviewing four industry professionals of varying industry experience, it was determined that there are indeed issues stemming from a power-disparity within the industry. Furthermore, these issues can cause problems regarding the safety of the industry’s workers both physically and financially, the artistic and cultural development of the medium, and that some parts of the industry (mainly the independent-part of it) may be in danger should the AAA-part of the industry become too difficult to compete with. This has a host of consequences, such as marginalized developers and cultures being unable to compete and express themselves, and many independent developers losing financial support. This data and the conclusions drawn from them were then used to shape a manifesto with the intent to be used as means to inspire change within the industry and to rally up the medium to unionize and act to counteract the problems presented. Conclusively it seems that there is a power-disparity issue in the gaming industry. Furthermore, it seems that the more experience a worker of the industry has, the morein-depth they could argue and discuss issues and the problematic consequences of them within the industry. Due to this, it is concluded that new workers of the industry may be unaware of many of the problems and issues mentioned by the participants and discussed in the manifesto. This brings a sense of urgency to the manifesto’s spread. To help this, the manifesto is meant to be unveiled at the Sweden Games Conference of 2021, should the logistics go according to plan.

From fears of issues with potential problematic consequences in the gaming industry stemming from a perceived power-disparity between the industry’s two defined“categories” (AAA and Independent), a study was made to investigate. This qualitative study was made to investigate whether or not certain perceived issues in the industry exist, and whether or not they are problematic (and in what way, if any). After interviewing four industry professionals of varying industry experience, it was determined that there are indeed issues stemming from a power-disparity within the industry. Furthermore, these issues can cause problems regarding the safety of the industry’s workers both physically and financially, the artistic and cultural development of the medium, and that some parts of the industry (mainly the independent-part of it) may be in danger should the AAA-part of the industry become too difficult to compete with. This has a host of consequences, such as marginalized developers and cultures being unable to compete and express themselves, and many independent developers losing financial support. This data and the conclusions drawn from them were then used to shape a manifesto with the intent to be used as means to inspire change within the industry and to rally up the medium to unionize and act to counteract the problems presented. Conclusively it seems that there is a power-disparity issue in the gaming industry. Furthermore, it seems that the more experience a worker of the industry has, the morein-depth they could argue and discuss issues and the problematic consequences of them within the industry. Due to this, it is concluded that new workers of the industry may be unaware of many of the problems and issues mentioned by the participants and discussed in the manifesto. This brings a sense of urgency to the manifesto’s spread. To help this, the manifesto is meant to be unveiled at the Sweden Games Conference of 2021, should the logistics go according to plan.

In this paper, we explore the policies related to support structures surrounding national game industries, with focus on the three Nordic countries Finland, Norway and Sweden, and investigate what kind of context the Nordic welfare state model has provided for game development. The three cases illustrate how Nordic welfare state measures have interacted with the games industry over time. While the political ideals have been fairly similar, our study demonstrates how the objectives and practical means of state engagement have differed significantly. We argue that although the three countries all have support schemes of which game companies can take advantage, there are significant differences in the degree to which each individual country has organized government interventions and support. While the Finnish state has treated game development as an endeavour in business development, the regional Nordic game program and the Norwegian state has developed a cultural policy that primarily aims to protect the cultural heritage. The Swedish state has not established a tailormade policy directed towards game development but has a broad spectrum of general policies for supporting research and business development. We suggest that future research should investigate how the public funding is structured and how discourses are formulated around appeals for more public funding for the games industry.

[Abstract] Video games have been around since the 1960s and have impacted upon society in a myriad of different ways. The purpose of this scoping review is to identify existing literature within the domain of video games which recruited participants from the Generation X (1965–1980) cohort. Six databases were searched (ACM, CINHAL Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science) focusing on published journal papers between 1970 and 2000. Search results identified 3186 articles guided by the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR); 4 papers were irretrievable, 138 duplicated papers were removed, leaving 3048 were assessed for eligibility and 3026 were excluded. Articles (n = 22) were included into this review, with four papers primarily published in 1997 and in 1999. Thematic analysis identified five primary themes: purpose and objectives, respective authors’ reporting, technology, ethics and environment) and seven secondary themes: populations, type of participants (e.g. children, students), ethical approval, study design, reimbursement, language, type of assessments. This scoping review is distinctive because it primarily focuses on Generation X, who have experienced and grown-up with videogames, and contributes to several disciplines including: game studies, gerontology and health, and has wider implications from a societal, design and development perspective of video games.

The expansion of creative and cultural industries has provided a rich source for theoretical claims and commentary. Much of this reproduces and extends the idea that autonomy is the defining feature of both enterprises and workers. Drawing on evidence from research into Australian development studios in the global digital games industry, the article interrogates claims concerning autonomy and related issues of insecurity and intensity, skill and specialisation, work–play boundaries, identity and attachments. In seeking to reconnect changes in creative labour to the wider production environment and political economy, an argument is advanced that autonomy is deeply contextual and contested as a dimension of the processes of capturing value for firms and workers.

This report is written as a part of the EU Interreg Öresund-Kattegat-Skagerrak funded project GameHub Scandinavia. The aim of the project is to provide resources and services to developers, educators, researchers, and supporting actors that are involved in the Scandinavian game industry. The report is intended to be a continuation of a series of reports written at the University of Skövde regarding the state of Swedish game educations. The inaugural report, Spelutbildarindex 2011, provided the first inventory of Swedish game educations on the tertiary level, and intended to discuss their rapid rate of expansion and the ways in which universities and vocational schools accommodated for changing demands in the industry. A second report, Game Development, Education & Incubation, delved deeper into incubation and industry, and provided a larger, but rather brief, overview of game educations in Denmark and Norway as a supplement to the Swedish statistics. This report will essentially describe Swedish game education as a tale of two different eras; the pre-2013 proliferation era, and the post-2013 plateau era. Previously produced reports on the topics were written during a period where game educations were rapidly proliferating, and when the games industry was in a more volatile state than it is currently. The state of both academia and industry differs immensely between this millennium’s two inaugural decades. Throughout the ‘00s, game educations grew at a rate that seemed to favour accommodation for student interests rather than processes of quality assurance, deliberation, and programme improvement. In the ‘10s, the amount of programmes have stopped increasing, and most of the statistics regarding student numbers have plateaued, and are in some cases even decreasing., GameHub Scandinavia

This report is written as a part of the EU Interreg Öresund-Kattegat-Skagerrak funded project GameHub Scandinavia. The aim of the project is to provide resources and services to developers, educators, researchers, and supporting actors that are involved in the Scandinavian game industry. The report is intended to be a continuation of a series of reports written at the University of Skövde regarding the state of Swedish game educations. The inaugural report, Spelutbildarindex 2011, provided the first inventory of Swedish game educations on the tertiary level, and intended to discuss their rapid rate of expansion and the ways in which universities and vocational schools accommodated for changing demands in the industry. A second report, Game Development, Education & Incubation, delved deeper into incubation and industry, and provided a larger, but rather brief, overview of game educations in Denmark and Norway as a supplement to the Swedish statistics. This report will essentially describe Swedish game education as a tale of two different eras; the pre-2013 proliferation era, and the post-2013 plateau era. Previously produced reports on the topics were written during a period where game educations were rapidly proliferating, and when the games industry was in a more volatile state than it is currently. The state of both academia and industry differs immensely between this millennium’s two inaugural decades. Throughout the ‘00s, game educations grew at a rate that seemed to favour accommodation for student interests rather than processes of quality assurance, deliberation, and programme improvement. In the ‘10s, the amount of programmes have stopped increasing, and most of the statistics regarding student numbers have plateaued, and are in some cases even decreasing., GameHub Scandinavia

This report is written as a part of the EU Interreg Öresund-Kattegat-Skagerrak funded project GameHub Scandinavia. The aim of the project is to provide resources and services to developers, educators, researchers, and supporting actors that are involved in the Scandinavian game industry. The report is intended to be a continuation of a series of reports written at the University of Skövde regarding the state of Swedish game educations. The inaugural report, Spelutbildarindex 2011, provided the first inventory of Swedish game educations on the tertiary level, and intended to discuss their rapid rate of expansion and the ways in which universities and vocational schools accommodated for changing demands in the industry. A second report, Game Development, Education & Incubation, delved deeper into incubation and industry, and provided a larger, but rather brief, overview of game educations in Denmark and Norway as a supplement to the Swedish statistics. This report will essentially describe Swedish game education as a tale of two different eras; the pre-2013 proliferation era, and the post-2013 plateau era. Previously produced reports on the topics were written during a period where game educations were rapidly proliferating, and when the games industry was in a more volatile state than it is currently. The state of both academia and industry differs immensely between this millennium’s two inaugural decades. Throughout the ‘00s, game educations grew at a rate that seemed to favour accommodation for student interests rather than processes of quality assurance, deliberation, and programme improvement. In the ‘10s, the amount of programmes have stopped increasing, and most of the statistics regarding student numbers have plateaued, and are in some cases even decreasing., GameHub Scandinavia

This report is written as a part of the EU Interreg Öresund-Kattegat-Skagerrak funded project GameHub Scandinavia. The aim of the project is to provide resources and services to developers, educators, researchers, and supporting actors that are involved in the Scandinavian game industry. The report is intended to be a continuation of a series of reports written at the University of Skövde regarding the state of Swedish game educations. The inaugural report, Spelutbildarindex 2011, provided the first inventory of Swedish game educations on the tertiary level, and intended to discuss their rapid rate of expansion and the ways in which universities and vocational schools accommodated for changing demands in the industry. A second report, Game Development, Education & Incubation, delved deeper into incubation and industry, and provided a larger, but rather brief, overview of game educations in Denmark and Norway as a supplement to the Swedish statistics. This report will essentially describe Swedish game education as a tale of two different eras; the pre-2013 proliferation era, and the post-2013 plateau era. Previously produced reports on the topics were written during a period where game educations were rapidly proliferating, and when the games industry was in a more volatile state than it is currently. The state of both academia and industry differs immensely between this millennium’s two inaugural decades. Throughout the ‘00s, game educations grew at a rate that seemed to favour accommodation for student interests rather than processes of quality assurance, deliberation, and programme improvement. In the ‘10s, the amount of programmes have stopped increasing, and most of the statistics regarding student numbers have plateaued, and are in some cases even decreasing., GameHub Scandinavia

This report is written as a part of the EU Interreg Öresund-Kattegat-Skagerrak funded project GameHub Scandinavia. The aim of the project is to provide resources and services to developers, educators, researchers, and supporting actors that are involved in the Scandinavian game industry. The report is intended to be a continuation of a series of reports written at the University of Skövde regarding the state of Swedish game educations. The inaugural report, Spelutbildarindex 2011, provided the first inventory of Swedish game educations on the tertiary level, and intended to discuss their rapid rate of expansion and the ways in which universities and vocational schools accommodated for changing demands in the industry. A second report, Game Development, Education & Incubation, delved deeper into incubation and industry, and provided a larger, but rather brief, overview of game educations in Denmark and Norway as a supplement to the Swedish statistics. This report will essentially describe Swedish game education as a tale of two different eras; the pre-2013 proliferation era, and the post-2013 plateau era. Previously produced reports on the topics were written during a period where game educations were rapidly proliferating, and when the games industry was in a more volatile state than it is currently. The state of both academia and industry differs immensely between this millennium’s two inaugural decades. Throughout the ‘00s, game educations grew at a rate that seemed to favour accommodation for student interests rather than processes of quality assurance, deliberation, and programme improvement. In the ‘10s, the amount of programmes have stopped increasing, and most of the statistics regarding student numbers have plateaued, and are in some cases even decreasing., GameHub Scandinavia

Almost half of all game players are now women. However, women only represent a small proportion of game developers. There is a lack of previous research to suggest why women don't pursue careers in games and how we can attract more women to the industry. In this paper, we investigate the issues and barriers that prevent women from entering the games industry, as well as the solutions and steps that can be taken to attract more women to the industry. We draw on the lessons learned by the information technology industry and report on a program of events that was conducted at the Queensland University of Technology in 2011. These events provided some insight into the issues surrounding the lack of women in the games industry, as well as some initial steps that we can take as an industry to attract and support more female developers.

This chapter deals with a fascinating, and for some disturbing, phenomenon in the domain of the media and entertainment industries: unauthorised file sharing, in some cases also referred to as piracy. The latter term, however, was originally used to refer to the organised production of a counterfeit product, i.e. illegal physical copies of games and DVDs (or Gucci bags and Rolex watches). On the internet, it is confined to those who practise file sharing with a straightforward criminal intent driven by commercial motives. This chapter deals exclusively with unauthorised file sharing by individual citizens. With the advent of broadband digital networks following up on the introduction of the internet, people have shown a great interest in acquiring digital content, in order to get to know it or to store their favourite works on their digital devices for immediate access. At first file sharing primarily related to music, later also to films, games and, since recently, books. Digital technology in the hands of citizens proved a powerful tool for sharing creative works online and get the better of rights holders, not asking for authorisation, giving consumers free access to a mere à boire of entertainment products. Although the unauthorised distribution of copyrighted works is a violation of copyright law, file sharing has proven to be an obstinate phenomenon. Media and entertainment companies have vigorously attempted to stop the unauthorised sharing of files on legal grounds, evoking copyright law in particular, with very limited success.

This brief inventory and analysis of the state of Swedish, Danish and Norwegian game development aim to highlight past and current trends within the regions’ industries and supporting structures. In a short period of time, the situation for game developers has been severely altered as a result of the closure of big players and the rapid evolution of the marketplace. The industry in each country has been able to adapt to these changes well, and we’ve seen a dramatic industry expansion in the past couple of years as the main turbulence has subsided and new companies are given space and opportunity to establish themselves., Scandinavian Game Development

This chapter deals with a fascinating, and for some disturbing, phenomenon in the domain of the media and entertainment industries: unauthorised file sharing, in some cases also referred to as piracy. The latter term, however, was originally used to refer to the organised production of a counterfeit product, i.e. illegal physical copies of games and DVDs (or Gucci bags and Rolex watches). On the internet, it is confined to those who practise file sharing with a straightforward criminal intent driven by commercial motives. This chapter deals exclusively with unauthorised file sharing by individual citizens. With the advent of broadband digital networks following up on the introduction of the internet, people have shown a great interest in acquiring digital content, in order to get to know it or to store their favourite works on their digital devices for immediate access. At first file sharing primarily related to music, later also to films, games and, since recently, books. Digital technology in the hands of citizens proved a powerful tool for sharing creative works online and get the better of rights holders, not asking for authorisation, giving consumers free access to a mere à boire of entertainment products. Although the unauthorised distribution of copyrighted works is a violation of copyright law, file sharing has proven to be an obstinate phenomenon. Media and entertainment companies have vigorously attempted to stop the unauthorised sharing of files on legal grounds, evoking copyright law in particular, with very limited success.

This brief inventory and analysis of the state of Swedish, Danish and Norwegian game development aim to highlight past and current trends within the regions’ industries and supporting structures. In a short period of time, the situation for game developers has been severely altered as a result of the closure of big players and the rapid evolution of the marketplace. The industry in each country has been able to adapt to these changes well, and we’ve seen a dramatic industry expansion in the past couple of years as the main turbulence has subsided and new companies are given space and opportunity to establish themselves., Scandinavian Game Development

This brief inventory and analysis of the state of Swedish, Danish and Norwegian game development aim to highlight past and current trends within the regions’ industries and supporting structures. In a short period of time, the situation for game developers has been severely altered as a result of the closure of big players and the rapid evolution of the marketplace. The industry in each country has been able to adapt to these changes well, and we’ve seen a dramatic industry expansion in the past couple of years as the main turbulence has subsided and new companies are given space and opportunity to establish themselves., Scandinavian Game Development

This brief inventory and analysis of the state of Swedish, Danish and Norwegian game development aim to highlight past and current trends within the regions’ industries and supporting structures. In a short period of time, the situation for game developers has been severely altered as a result of the closure of big players and the rapid evolution of the marketplace. The industry in each country has been able to adapt to these changes well, and we’ve seen a dramatic industry expansion in the past couple of years as the main turbulence has subsided and new companies are given space and opportunity to establish themselves., Scandinavian Game Development

This brief inventory and analysis of the state of Swedish, Danish and Norwegian game development aim to highlight past and current trends within the regions’ industries and supporting structures. In a short period of time, the situation for game developers has been severely altered as a result of the closure of big players and the rapid evolution of the marketplace. The industry in each country has been able to adapt to these changes well, and we’ve seen a dramatic industry expansion in the past couple of years as the main turbulence has subsided and new companies are given space and opportunity to establish themselves., Scandinavian Game Development

The Working in Australia’s Digital Games Industry: A Consolidation Report is the outcome of a comprehensive study on the games industry in Australia by Dr Sandra Haukka from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation (CCI) based at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane. The study responds to concerns that Australia’s games industry would not reach its full potential due to a lack of local, highly skilled staff, and a lack of appropriately trained graduates with the necessary knowledge and skills. This is the first of two reports produced with the support of the Games Developers’ Association of Australia. Over coming months researchers will develop a future skills strategy report for the industry.

In 2010 we realised that our fifth 48 hour game making competition was more than a mere event but that we were actually watching our local games industry enact a very intense process of community making and reflective practice. This presentation of our early research on the event was an invited spectacle at the Games Connect Australia Pacific Conference 2010 held at the Gold Coast Convention Centre, 14-15 October 2010. Abstract: Jams, Jellybeans and the fruit of passion: if games are about creating innovative player experience, then the place to start is how we set up game design education as an experience Authors: truna aka j.turner – Brisbane IGDA & Lubi Thomas, Mt Nebo Studios The 48 hour game making challenge has grown since it started in 2007 to accommodate 20 teams, some of the teams are professionals, some are made of people who are working in other industries, most are made of students from the various tertiary institutes around town. We still don’t quite understand why these mad people sign up for 48 hours of intense creativity just for the jelly beans we hand out as prizes but we do suspect that the space we give them and the passion they bring to the event offers those of us involved in the education side of the games industry really vital insights into what is critical and important in terms of education. The Australian games industry really needs these people, they are bright and ingenious and they make the most amazing games. But you won't get them by telling tertiary institutions what you fancy this year in terms of skills and criteria; you will get them by fostering their creativity and passion. If games are about creating innovative player experience, then the place to start is how we set up game design education as an experience.

This interdisciplinary study shows that because of the changing demands from consumer caused by the growing influence of the internet and file-sharing the Nordic Gaming industry is going through an economic evolution. This result was derived by using qualitative questionnaires directed towards Gaming industry decision makers in the Nordic region combined with critical discourse analysis based on the methodology of Norman Fairclough, using theories of different characters to understand the field. In this thesis the case of the Nordic Gaming industry is used to assert that because of changing demands of consumers and an ever growing piracy movement, societies are evolving into transitional economies where it is increasingly harder to sell products consisting of pure information.

This interdisciplinary study shows that because of the changing demands from consumer caused by the growing influence of the internet and file-sharing the Nordic Gaming industry is going through an economic evolution. This result was derived by using qualitative questionnaires directed towards Gaming industry decision makers in the Nordic region combined with critical discourse analysis based on the methodology of Norman Fairclough, using theories of different characters to understand the field. In this thesis the case of the Nordic Gaming industry is used to assert that because of changing demands of consumers and an ever growing piracy movement, societies are evolving into transitional economies where it is increasingly harder to sell products consisting of pure information.