Indie video game development work : innovation in the creative economy / Alexander Styhre.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Styhre, Alexander, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Video games industry.

Video game designers.

Small business.

Technological innovations--Management.

Technological innovations.

Physical Description:

xiv, 246 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

Cham, Switzerland : Palgrave Macmillan, [2020]

Summary:

This book presents a study of so-called indie video game developers that are widely regarded as the creative and innovative fringe of the video game industry. The video game industry is an exemplary entrepreneurial high growth industry that combines digital media, cinematographic representations and interactive gaming technologies, and uses global digital distribution channels to reach local gaming communities. The study examines a number of issues, concerns, challenges, and opportunities that indie developers are handling as part of their development work. The love of gaming and video games more specifically is the shared and unifying force of both so-called Triple-A developers and the indie developer community. Still, issues such as how to raise financial capital or otherwise fund the development work, or how to optimize the return on investment when video games are released on digital platforms are issues that indie developers need to cope with. The study is theoretically framed as a case of an innovation-led sector of the economy, yet being anchored in the Swedish welfare state model, wherein e.g., free tertiary education and social insurances and health case at low cost are provided and supportive of enterprising. 0This book will be valuable reading for academics working in the fields of knowledge management, innovation, and the creative economy.

Contents:

Intro

Preface

Acknowledgements

Contents

Chapter 1: The Ethnographer's Dilemma: To Understand a World That Is Not Your Own While Avoiding to Misrepresenting It

Introduction: Claude Lévi-Strauss and the Anthropologist's Predicament

The Ethnographer's Assignment: To Unveil Everyday Practices and Their Meaning

The Study: Methodological Issues

Design of the Study

The Social Science Ethnography Literature

Technology-Based Ethnographies

The Mode of Production: Indie Game Development and the Video Game Industry

Data Collection

Data Analysis

Connecting the Ethnographic Data to Theoretical Frameworks

Summary and Conclusion

References

Part I: Theoretical Perspectives

Chapter 2: Governing Innovation-Led Economies: The Role of Business Creation and Creativity

Introduction: Problem, Purpose, and Research Question

Purpose and Research Question

Innovation-Led Growth in a Finance-Led Economy

The State of Venturing and Entrepreneurialism

The Supply of Venture Capital

The Creation and Operation of Private Venture Capital Markets

Private Venture Capital Investment Performance

Why Venture Capital Investors Commit Their Capital to High-Risk Ventures

How Venture Capital Investors Commit Their Capital to High-Risk Ventures

Intuition-Based Venture Capital Investment Decisions

The Return on Equity of Venture Capital Investment: Measuring Performance

Other Ways of Financing Development Work: On the IPO Trail

State-Funding Redux

Chapter 3: The Passionate Worker and Deeply Meaningful Work

Introduction

Passion and Meaning in Day-to-Day Work

Affective Labour

The Passion of Everyday Work

The Authenticity Criterion in Creative Work

Studies of Passionate Work

On Gaming: A Sense of Being Alive

The Sacred and the Profane and the Rules of Conduct

Play Versus Games

A Taxonomy of Game

Part II: The Empirical Material

Chapter 4: Who Is an Indie Developer? Sorting Out the Categories

Classification as Social Practice

To Classify the Indie Developer and the Indie Video Game

Indie as Attitude and Identity

Industry Structure Conditions

Indie and Labour Market Structure

The Output: Indie Games

Classification Systems and the Making of a Social Order

Chapter 5: Social Norms in the Developer Community: The Ambiguity of Money-Making

The Ambiguous Nature of Money in Entrepreneurial Work

Money and Their Social Significance and Meaning

On Money and Money-Making in Indie Video Game Development

The Ambiguous Nature of Money-Making

Passionate Game Development

In Defence of the Business Side of Video Game Development

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

ebook version :

ISBN:

9783030455446

3030455440

OCLC:

1145552440