Link to the up-to-date syllabus for 2023/2024: JKM193 Game Production Studies syllabus.docx

Main Themes:

Industrial vs Amateur Game Development

Video game industry had emerged in the 1970s, however throughout history it co-existed with amateur game development. Later, the rejection of the industrial way of making games led to the creation of the indie scene. Currently, there are multiple sectors of game production (AAA, indie, mobile, etc), all of which have their specificities in terms of how such games are produced.

Key references:

Consalvo, Mia, and Christopher A. Paul. 2019. Real Games: What’s Legitimate and What’s Not in Contemporary Videogames. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Ruffino, Paolo. 2020. Independent Videogames: Cultures, Networks, Techniques and Politics. Routledge.

Video Game Monetization

Since the beginning of commercial video game production, developers and publishers have used different strategies to generate revenue, drawing inspiration from established entertainment industries. Monetization strategies influence how players engage with games and also affect how developers design and maintain them. We will discuss the differences between upfront payments for the so-called premium games and various forms of continual (or additional) monetization for freemium games.

Key references:

Neely, Erica L. 2019. “Come for the Game, Stay for the Cash Grab: The Ethics of Loot Boxes, Microtransactions, and Freemium Games.” Games and Culture, November, Online First. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412019887658.

Van Roessel, Lies, and Jan Švelch. 2021. “Who Creates Microtransactions: The Production Context of Video Game Monetization.” In Game Production Studies, edited by Olli Sotamaa and Jan Švelch, 197–215. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.

Publishing, Distribution, and Platforms

In order to get their games to players, developers have to deal with several intermediares, which curate, fund, and otherwise influence which games are made and how they are sold. Historically, publishers had financial control over video game markets, but digital distribution and with it the emergence of indie games have lowered the entry barriers for video game developers. At the same time, distribution platforms such as App Store, Steam, Epic Games Store, itch.io and console manufacturers Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony have become important actors, whose exclusivity deals, content rules, or recommendation algorithms profoundly affect the video game ecosystem.

Key references:

Nieborg, David B., Chris J. Young, and Daniel J. Joseph. 2019. “Lost in the App Store: The State of the Canadian Game App Economy.” Canadian Journal of Communication 44 (2): 57–62. https://doi.org/10.22230/cjc.2019v44n2a3505.

Werning, Stefan. 2019. “Disrupting Video Game Distribution: A Diachronic Affordance Analysis of Steam’s Platformization Strategy.” Nordic Journal of Media Studies 1 (1): 103–24. https://doi.org/10.2478/njms-2019-0007.

Tools and Processes of Video Game Production

Video game development is influenced by the available technological tools, such as game engines Unity or Unreal, or the access to player metrics, which has contributed to growing importance of data-driven design. Commercial video game production also exhibits a high degree of imitation caused by the limited copyright protection for gameplay mechanics. Other notable processes include vast outsourcing in areas of quality assurance but also art assets and other areas of production.

Key references:

Chang, Alenda Y. 2019. “Between Plants and Polygons: SpeedTrees and an Even Speedier History of Digital Morphogenesis.” Electronic Book Review, December. https://doi.org/10.7273/WTDF-7W30.

Foxman, Maxwell. 2019. “United We Stand: Platforms, Tools and Innovation with the Unity Game Engine.” Social Media + Society 5 (4). https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305119880177.

Roessel, Lies van, and Christian Katzenbach. 2020. “Navigating the Grey Area: Game Production between Inspiration and Imitation.” Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies 26 (2): 402–20. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856518786593.

Player Surveillance

The evolution from games as products to games as services has established more long-term relationships between developers and players. Within this context, the monitoring of in-game behavior becomes an important part of game production. Surveillance puts players at disadvantage and results in the use of behavioral data to optimize not just game development, but also monetization.

Murphy, David. 2014. “Battle on the Metric Front: Dispatches from Call of Duty’s Update War.” Game Studies 14 (2). http://gamestudies.org/1402/articles/murphy.

Švelch, Jan. 2022. “Normalizing Player Surveillance through Video Game Infographics.” New Media & Society, June, Online First. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448221097889.

Zuboff, Shoshana. 2019. The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power. First edition. New York: PublicAffairs.

Video Game Labor

Employment in video game industries is marked by precariousness, comparatively low salaries, and crunch (prolonged periods of mandatory overtime). Video game companies often exploit vocational passion of developers, who are willing to accept worse working conditions in exchange for the promise of self-realization. Video game industry as a whole presents structural barriers for women and other underrepresented groups.

Key references:

Chia, Aleena. 2019. “The Moral Calculus of Vocational Passion in Digital Gaming.” Television & New Media 20 (8): 767–77. https://doi.org/10.1177/1527476419851079.

Cote, Amanda C., and Brandon C. Harris. 2021. “The Cruel Optimism of ‘Good Crunch’: How Game Industry Discourses Perpetuate Unsustainable Labor Practices.” New Media & Society, May, Online First. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448211014213.

Weststar, Johanna, and Marie-Josée Legault. 2019. “Building Momentum for Collectivity in the Digital Game Community.” Television & New Media 20 (8): 848–61. https://doi.org/10.1177/1527476419851087.

Authorship and Development Roles

Most commercial video games are created by large teams, but authorship tends to be claimed by select individuals in specific roles, similarly to how film and television industries operate. The hierarchy of game development roles prioritizes certain professions (e.g. the core game development tetrad: designer, programmer/engineer, artist, and producer) and relegates others, such as quality assurance professionals or community managers, to support roles.

Key references:

Švelch, Jan. 2021. “Developer Credit: Para-Industrial Hierarchies of In-Game Credit Attribution in the Video Game Industry.” Games and Culture, July, Online First. https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120211034408.

Whitson, Jennifer R, Bart Simon, and Felan Parker. 2018. “The Missing Producer: Rethinking Indie Cultural Production in Terms of Entrepreneurship, Relational Labour, and Sustainability.” European Journal of Cultural Studies, December, Online First. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367549418810082.

Industrial Reflexivity

Similarly to other creative industries, the video game industry not only produces cultural commodities but also reflects on its inner workings and procedures in self-reflexive genres such as postmortems, behind-the-scenes materials, or even game development simulators. These self-representations attempt to shape the public perception of video game companies and video game production.

Key references:

Švelch, Jan. 2021. “Shadow Academy of Video Game Production—Industrial Reflexivity of Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet.” Critical Studies in Media Communication 38 (1): 18–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/15295036.2020.1844906.

Whitson, Jennifer R. 2020. “What Can We Learn From Studio Studies Ethnographies?: A ‘Messy’ Account of Game Development Materiality, Learning, and Expertise.” Games and Culture 15 (3): 266–88.