While there is a common understanding that the video game industry is a high-tech business worth billions of dollars, managed by large companies in certain cities in North America, Europe, and East Asia, the reality is that most video games are made by small groups of individuals working with minimal budgets. They rely on existing software platforms that are freely available, and often hope in vain to achieve stardom; in short, they consider themselves to be people working like artists.
From this perspective, Brendan Keogh, a media critic and researcher based in Australia whose writings focus primarily on video game development and gaming cultures, presents a more accurate picture of how the vast majority of video game creators operate in his book titled “The Videogame Industry Does Not Exist: Why We Should Think Beyond Commercial Game Production.” This book reveals the diverse and unstable communities, identities, and practices that have made video game production an important cultural practice.
The Video Game Industry:
Drawing on insights from over 400 game developers across Australia, North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia, the author provides a new framework for understanding video game production as a cultural field with all its complexities. This perspective includes: amateur non-professionals, aspiring students, contractors who deal with clients, independent individuals, and groups of artists, all of whom fit into the model presented by the author. In this context, he also points to the interconnectedness and mutual reliance between advocates of the non-commercial gaming industry and their commercial counterparts in video game production.
The author adds that there is a long history of thinking about games merely as technology or a “startup software” company, separate from how developers think. When speaking with these independent developers, they often do not actually aspire to hire fifty or seventy people or attract a multitude of venture capital; rather, they simply want to continue making games with their friends in a financially sustainable manner.
From this perspective, the author argues that the video game industry as it is labeled does not truly exist; this means that the industry calling itself the “industry” can only exist by extracting significant value, such as economic, creative, and social value, from a much broader field of gaming activity. Therefore, it is vital to regard students studying game development as current creatives by including them in relevant industry conversations and encouraging them to cultivate their own communities focused on games beyond what is taught in the classroom.
According to the author, Australia serves as a model for what the gaming industry looks like globally, due to the collapse of major companies in the field contrasted with the rise of creative independent individuals taking over the industry. After the global financial crisis in 2008, major leading companies in the industry collapsed, wiping out two-thirds of jobs in the video game sector nationwide, thus paving the way for small companies that have achieved remarkable success in the industry, making the Australian experience unique and admirable.
As a result, the vast majority of countries worldwide do not rely on the large gaming companies found in certain cities in North America, Western Europe, and East Asia; instead, they depend on groups of people working to create games in independent or small-scale contexts.
Existing Challenges:
The author emphasizes that there is a set of challenges affecting the evolution of the video game industry, the most prominent being the intense competition among producers striving for recognition and legitimacy in the field. On the one hand, cultural producers seek to embed themselves in the cultural landscape and gain recognition for their work, while on the other, they strive to maintain their independence and distinctiveness from the large companies in the industry.
In addition to this, the video game industry requires manufacturers to work diligently and constantly learn and evolve, adjusting to changes in the industry, technology, and culture, such as the emergence of digital platforms, audience fragmentation, and the rise of independent work as game developers, a scenario fraught with risks like securing funding necessary for game production and development.
The author notes that the plurality and diversity of game production locations are among the challenges facing the industry at large, as they have contributed to the emergence of numerous fields within gaming. This necessitates that game developers create games that reflect the cultures and traditions of different communities as well as various social, political, and cultural issues. In short, it has become essential to meet the needs and desires of players and to express their personal identities through the use of new and innovative techniques and methods.
Transformations in the Gaming Industry:
The author highlights the transformation of the gaming industry from an individual endeavor to a collaborative one built on a network of individuals who support each other within the industry, leading to a richness and diversity in the identities and cultures of game producers, which in turn contributes to the diversity of games produced and the overall development of the gaming industry.
In this context, the author refers to the importance of innovation and technology in video game production, which necessitates the use of modern technology such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence to develop games, make them more interactive, and enhance the player experience while helping them understand how to effectively utilize these technologies.
In fact, it is not merely about employing modern technologies; digital games undergo comprehensive analysis across numerous artistic, technical, social, and economic aspects by understanding the creative, technical, and interactive processes involved in game production. Additionally, understanding the socio-economic factors influencing the gaming industry leads to improved game production and development.
The author believes that this industry is significantly influenced by various economic and political factors, such as government policies, regulations, taxes, international trade, and international relations overall. Politically, the way video games have obtained their cultural legitimacy from politicians has depended largely on the amount of revenue games generate, which can be seen as a somewhat easy and quick way to gain approval.
In this context, the author notes that the portrayal of the gaming industry as a lucrative field generating billions of dollars obscures the level of precision with which most games are made. Yes, there is a lot of money, but that money is concentrated significantly among publishers like Sony and Microsoft. In other words, we must acknowledge the reality that not everyone who creates games earns a lot of money.
A Creative or Commercial Field?
Regarding government support for the video game industry, the author calls for a change in the government’s outlook from merely funding games because they generate money to viewing them as culturally significant. However, in the current world, all forms of games tend to require some form of commercial justification for government funding; in other words, governments view games solely through the lens of profit and loss, which is regrettable from the author’s perspective but has been the reality for the past thirty years.
Even if the goal of government funding for games is job creation and growth, governments still need to understand the specific dynamics of how the economy works within the creative cultural sector rather than a technology sector. Historically, much of the government funding has focused on corporate growth, which makes sense if you are supporting a technology sector, but makes little sense when supporting a creative sector.
A notable example of this occurred when a tax discount on digital games was announced for all major games produced by large companies in Australia that earn significant profits, while smaller independent games like Florence or Paper Park—produced by small startups—were required to spend at least 500,000 Australian dollars as a form of tax, which they are unable to pay. This draws attention to the broader activity that requires government support not just linked to corporate growth, but seen as a celebration of the creative and artistic field.
The author asserts that the video game industry, like any creative field, is as important as all other artistic fields, not only because it generates substantial revenue but also because it helps individuals express themselves, tell their stories, understand their world, and explore their abilities and skills. This means that we need to understand video games as a creative rather than a commercial field.
While many video game champions see the revenue generated by large video game companies as proof of the reality of video game importance, this financial metric of valuing video games is far removed from the individual aspirations and working conditions of the creators and developers in this industry, who seek to refine their skills and innovate new ideas regardless of financial considerations.
Nonetheless, many game developers interviewed expressed the importance of political awareness regarding how the discourse of passion and creativity has long been used to exploit professional game creators and hold their wages low, with a clear, strong desire to prioritize improving their skills and abilities to develop the video game industry as a cultural creative field.
Conclusion:
Finally, the author advises game development students to approach what they do with greater respect as a cultural creative practice and to check their reality when they enroll in game development programs. They should treat it more like an aspiration to become a poet or an actor or a musician rather than viewing it as a pathway to employment, as studying game development is akin to studying creative writing.
Source:
Brendan Keogh, The Videogame Industry Does Not Exist: Why We Should Think Beyond Commercial Game Production (The MIT Press, 2023), pp. 264.
