Games developers are involved in the creation and production of games across various platforms and their work involves design or programming. Games development is a multi-billion pound industry that can take teams of up to 200 professionals up to three years to make a game from concept to finished product. Video game publishers finance development, distribute published games, and perform other functions like deciding on licenses, localization, packaging, and marketing. Console manufacturers serve as gatekeepers that approve games for their platforms and provide support to developers, while having power over what titles get priority marketing.

1. Task 1 Unit 13
Jake Thompson

2. Developers
Games developers are involved in the creation and
production of games for personal computers, games
consoles, social/online games, arcade games, tablets,
mobile phones and other hand held devices. Their
work involves either design (including art and
animation) or programming.
Games development is a fast-moving, multi-billion
pound industry. The making of a game from concept to
finished product can take up to three years and involve
teams of up to 200 professionals.

3. publishers
A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that they
have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game
developer. As with book publishers or publishers of DVD movies, video game
publishers are responsible for their product's manufacturing and marketing,
including market research and all aspects of advertising.
They often finance the development, sometimes by paying a video game
developer (the publisher calls this external development) and sometimes by
paying an internal staff of developers called a studio. The large video game
publishers also distribute the games they publish, while some smaller
publishers instead hire distribution companies (or larger video game
publishers) to distribute the games they publish. Other functions usually
performed by the publisher include deciding on and paying for any license
that the game may utilize; paying for localization; layout, printing, and
possibly the writing of the user manual; and the creation of graphic design
elements such as the box design.

4. Console
Manufacturers/First
Party Publishers
Console Manufacturers And First Party
Publishers First Party Publishers are the
companies that make the hardware, e.g. games
consoles, that games are played on –
specifically Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo and,
now that mobile phone based platforms are
emerging, companies such as Nokia. These
companies are the gatekeepers of the industry,
as they decide whether or not to approve each
game targeted for development on the
irrespective console platforms. They have an
immense amount of power and influence over
what gets released and which titles get priority
marketing. First Party Publishers provide
support to developers and publishers working
on their particular platforms

5. Distributionand
Retail
In the video game industry, digital distribution is the process of
delivering video game content as digital information, without the
exchange or purchase of new physical media. This process has existed
since the early 1980s, but it was only with network advancements in
bandwidth capabilities in the early 2000s that digital distribution
became more prominent as a method of selling games. Currently, the
process is dominated by online distribution over broadband internet.
To facilitate the sale of games, various game companies have created
their own platforms for digital distribution. These platforms, such as
Steam, Origin, and Xbox Live Marketplace, provide centralized
services to purchase and download digital content for either specific
video game consoles or PCs. Some platforms may also serve as digital
rights management systems, limiting the use of purchased items to one
account.

6. Outsourcing Companies
Video-game makers were beginning to deal with the complexity and
cost of their operations by relying on outsourcing—by using both
temporary workers in the United States…people in low-wage
developing countries.
Game Developer Research found in a 2008 survey that eighty-six per
cent of game studios used outsourcing for at least one aspect of
development. In 2009, Electronic Arts laid off more than twenty-six
hundred employees; the C.E.O., John Riccitiello, said the company
had over invested in internal development and vowed to increase
focus on outsourcing. “The high-cost locations have gotten so far out
of line that the best we can do is keep a core design team there, and
use support in other places like Montreal or South Korea,” he told
investors at a 2009 presentation.

7. Press and Media
Video game journalism is a branch of
journalism concerned with the reporting and
discussion of video games. It is typically based
on a core reveal/preview/review cycle. There
has been a recent growth in online publications
and blogs.