2020
Tyni, Heikki
Games Crowdfunding as a Form of Platformised Cultural Production PhD Thesis
2020, ISBN: 978-952-03-1756-0.
Abstract | Links | Tags: Crowdfunding, Game industry, Game production studies, Platformisation, Production logics
@phdthesis{Tyni2020,
title = {Games Crowdfunding as a Form of Platformised Cultural Production},
author = {Heikki Tyni},
url = {http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-03-1757-7
},
isbn = {978-952-03-1756-0},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-11-13},
abstract = {The recent decade has seen an increasing number of ‘game production studies’, with critical examinations on industry structures, production models and labour issues. This study critically examines an emerging area of independent production of digital games, games crowdfunding. Asking funding directly from ‘backer’ audiences, game developers have been able to sidestep the publishers of the traditional game industry. However, crowdfunding has had a myriad of repercussions for everyday game work, production networks, and how games are received and sold, amongst other things.
Through a mixed-methods approach combining elements from game studies, critical political economy and cultural studies, this dissertation conceptualises games crowdfunding as a production logic that affects every area of game production. In getting rid of the traditional publisher, developers need to acquire a lot of new competencies and shoulder a lot of work previously handled by the publishers. Backers are found to possess several other roles beyond just funding and hold a wide variety of participation motivations beyond just acquiring the crowdfunded game. As projects have become more professional, many backers treat crowdfunding as a form of pre-ordering.
In the discussion, games crowdfunding is contextualised as a form ’platformisation of cultural production’, with game development and economics revolving around a central platform and intermediaries connected to it. The production model is revealed as a site of tension between alternative production opportunities, precarious game work, commercialisation and emerging user opportunities. Further studies are needed to understand the full gamut of games crowdfunding, including small campaigns.
},
keywords = {Crowdfunding, Game industry, Game production studies, Platformisation, Production logics},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {phdthesis}
}
The recent decade has seen an increasing number of ‘game production studies’, with critical examinations on industry structures, production models and labour issues. This study critically examines an emerging area of independent production of digital games, games crowdfunding. Asking funding directly from ‘backer’ audiences, game developers have been able to sidestep the publishers of the traditional game industry. However, crowdfunding has had a myriad of repercussions for everyday game work, production networks, and how games are received and sold, amongst other things.
Through a mixed-methods approach combining elements from game studies, critical political economy and cultural studies, this dissertation conceptualises games crowdfunding as a production logic that affects every area of game production. In getting rid of the traditional publisher, developers need to acquire a lot of new competencies and shoulder a lot of work previously handled by the publishers. Backers are found to possess several other roles beyond just funding and hold a wide variety of participation motivations beyond just acquiring the crowdfunded game. As projects have become more professional, many backers treat crowdfunding as a form of pre-ordering.
In the discussion, games crowdfunding is contextualised as a form ’platformisation of cultural production’, with game development and economics revolving around a central platform and intermediaries connected to it. The production model is revealed as a site of tension between alternative production opportunities, precarious game work, commercialisation and emerging user opportunities. Further studies are needed to understand the full gamut of games crowdfunding, including small campaigns.
Through a mixed-methods approach combining elements from game studies, critical political economy and cultural studies, this dissertation conceptualises games crowdfunding as a production logic that affects every area of game production. In getting rid of the traditional publisher, developers need to acquire a lot of new competencies and shoulder a lot of work previously handled by the publishers. Backers are found to possess several other roles beyond just funding and hold a wide variety of participation motivations beyond just acquiring the crowdfunded game. As projects have become more professional, many backers treat crowdfunding as a form of pre-ordering.
In the discussion, games crowdfunding is contextualised as a form ’platformisation of cultural production’, with game development and economics revolving around a central platform and intermediaries connected to it. The production model is revealed as a site of tension between alternative production opportunities, precarious game work, commercialisation and emerging user opportunities. Further studies are needed to understand the full gamut of games crowdfunding, including small campaigns.
Chia, Aleena; Keogh, Brendan; Leorke, Dale; Nicoll, Benjamin
Platformisation in Game Development Journal Article
In: Internet Policy Review, vol. 9, iss. 4, pp. 1-28, 2020, ISSN: 2197-6775.
Abstract | Links | Tags: Cultural production, Democratisation, Game development, Game engines, Platform, Platformisation
@article{Chia2020,
title = {Platformisation in Game Development},
author = {Aleena Chia and Brendan Keogh and Dale Leorke and Benjamin Nicoll},
url = {https://policyreview.info/articles/analysis/platformisation-game-development},
doi = {10.14763/2020.4.1515},
issn = {2197-6775},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-10-21},
journal = {Internet Policy Review},
volume = {9},
issue = {4},
pages = {1-28},
abstract = {This article examines how the process of platformisation is manifesting in videogame development. Rather than reinforcing a top-down perspective of platformisation centred on distribution platforms like app stores, we focus on often overlooked game-making tools and the independent, entrepreneurial, and fringe communities that govern and use them. We draw on case studies of Unity and Twine, two such tools that have transformed videogame creation and distribution. By considering how they complicate existing understandings and definitions of both ‘platform’ and ‘platformisation’, we move beyond reductive narratives that frame platformisation as a fixed, hegemonic process. Instead, we reveal a much more ambiguous and complex relationship between game makers and the platforms they use.},
keywords = {Cultural production, Democratisation, Game development, Game engines, Platform, Platformisation},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
This article examines how the process of platformisation is manifesting in videogame development. Rather than reinforcing a top-down perspective of platformisation centred on distribution platforms like app stores, we focus on often overlooked game-making tools and the independent, entrepreneurial, and fringe communities that govern and use them. We draw on case studies of Unity and Twine, two such tools that have transformed videogame creation and distribution. By considering how they complicate existing understandings and definitions of both ‘platform’ and ‘platformisation’, we move beyond reductive narratives that frame platformisation as a fixed, hegemonic process. Instead, we reveal a much more ambiguous and complex relationship between game makers and the platforms they use.