1. Structure – The Value Chain
Developers
These are a group of people responsible for designing building and making the games we all
play the developers are split in to multiple groups such as artists, programmers and audio
engineers without these people there would be no game to speak of the size of a team can
depend on the game being made a triple A game could have over 100 employees working
for them or a simple indie company could have a team of 5 working on the game
development teams can be a group of friends or a bunch of co-workers in a major company
or even a mix of hired help (freelancers) that come in to work for a big company that needs
a disposable team to make a game all of these work well but can vary in quality and price it
depends on the company and how much they are willing to spend
Publishers
The publishers are responsible for getting the game funding and getting all the resources
together to make the game they also play a big part in the planning of the game and work
with the lead developers to ensure that all is well and going to plan they have a huge effect
on what gets made buy the company buy deciding which ideas are worth spending time and
money on they tend to work on finical and product management without a publisher the
game would have no base to be made on this makes them the be all end all if they want
they can pull the plug if as project costs too much or if the game won’t work no matter how
hard they try the publishers have a lot of micromanagement that they are responsible for
such as dates if the game has to be delayed they have to sort out the retail marketing and
development groups to accommodate for this it is things like this and other small problems
that make the job so hard as they have to deal with all the problems and find a way to solve
them
Console Manufacturers/First Party Publishers
These are the companies that make the hardware for example Sony and Microsoft they
make the consoles for the games to be played on they are a vital part of the game industry
they also get final say on weather a game will be sold on the console they ensure that a
game is worth looking at and make sure that not just anything gets put on their console they
also get to say which games are worth being advertised or just mentioned also what game
get recommended to players though they do not deal with the game directly they still play a
big part as if you have a good enough game and are a well-known company you have the
best chance of having you game advertised however a lot of console company have bought
game company’s and use them to build exclusive games
2. Distribution and retail
These people are the ones who sell the game to console manufactures and stores around
the world in bulk to make the company as much cash as they can to make up for all the
money they spent on making the game these people are a necessary part of any games
company as you need to be able to get shops and sites to sell your game with most of the
games being bought online the retail department have to do their best to make their game
sell to major companies like steam and green man gaming they can also make the own site
and sell the game directly though it may take some time for the sakes to rise due to the site
not being known also the phone game market is gaining notoriety and many companies are
starting to build a mobile version of their game or just an app that works in tandem with the
game for example battle field 4 and GTA 5 this gives the game some more fans and a lot
more sales
Outsourcing companies
Often a games company will be over piled with work and require help so they will outsource
the work to other company’s so that it will be done on time for example they may send all
of their programing work to a professionals company to be dome for a fair price they are
liked by bigger companies as it can help cut down costs and the work the team they have
assigned this makes the whole company run a lot smother but can cause problems if the
works takes too long or lost it is a good way to divide work but is not without risks Many
large companies use outsourcing to fill roles in their organization that would be too
expensive or inefficient to create themselves However outsourcing has some inherent
disadvantages. The company often has less direct oversight and control of the product or
service it's purchasing which can threaten the relationship between the company and its
customers
Press and media
They are the ones in charge of making the game noticed by the public by making adverts
posters and radio news to get as much hype for the game so that they can increase game
sales and notoriety for the company they will also do a lot of work on the forums talking to
the community make it bigger so that they have a huge crowd to sell too long be for final
version of the game is ready to sell they a another important part of the company as they
are the main source of customers and revenue one of the troubles with this job is that they
are the front of the company the face and they take the brute force of the public when the
game is delayed or taken down the job can be very stressful as if you work on the forum you
must deal with all the complaints and hate the community throws at you but you must
remain professional and not fight the public but help them understand why the game has
been for example patched removed delayed or hacked
