Video Game Industry Overview - 1431 Words

Video Game Industry Overview John Huddle 25 October 2014 Video Game Industry Overview Video game console industry is tasked with development, publication, manufacture and distribution and sells the electronic devices for games, accessories and software. The number of pixel and image contained determined traditionally gaming devices. The current development brings about 3g polygon imagery that has been pioneered by Silicon graphics institute. The industry is segmented into two different sectors with the first being the software sector which constitutes the games themselves and the second is the infrastructure and the technology that is needed to support the playing of the games. These sectors make the game industry. The†¦show more content†¦The upstream market undertakes mostly the manufacturing of hardware and development of software. There are mainly four vendors in the manufacturing of hardware and these are consoles, personal computers and mobiles. The mobile is viewed as the market of the future though v ery small (Egenfeldt, 2013). The console market is very significant and Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony dominate it. The software is developed in-house by third party contractors and is owned directly by publishers. They have less autonomy but enjoy security. The downstream segment consists of distribution, both software and hardware. Software distribution is organized by publishers who must obtain licenses and for the authority to sell games pertaining to a particular console and must pay the manufacture some royalties for each game sold. Microsoft has its own publisher and it is the only player that integrates the three functions of software development, hard ware manufacturing and software publishing. United States is the industry leader followed by Japan and then in the third place is France. The distribution has been organized by the manufactures through local and regional subsidiaries that will pass their products to retailers. The three major markets for the consoles are North America, Asia and Europe, though Europe has a strong downstream position with small importance in upstream activities (Zachariasson, 2012). There are high barriers