1. 70’s and 80’s Arcade
Arcade games were the first major milestone
in the computer games industry. Games were
developed by
developers/publishers who then distributed
the games via machines throughout various
locations across the world. Financial
transactions took the form of coins put into
the machines and the gain was clear. This
involves a large investment but the financial
returns were clear.

2. 1980-2010 Box, Ship, Done
With most games now being played on home
consoles the gaming industry became very lucrative.
Game developers wouldn’t produce games that
couldn’t run on one of the major platforms thus to
play the most popular games consumers had to
purchase the consoles making Microsoft, Sony and
Nintendo powerful driving forces in the gaming
industry as no game could be made for their
consoles without their permission. It was around this
time that pc and homebrew consoles games become
popular but the inconsistency with pc specs meant
that the market was to unstable and many of the
major developers avoided the area.

3. 2010+ Observe, Measure and Modify
With the number of retail game purchases rapidly declining it is believed that there will soon
be no more physical goods purchased this means there will be no more need manufacture,
transport, store and distribute game content on disk. This is very cost effective for the
publishers but opens the market up to much smaller indie game companies who could not
previously afford to mass market their home made games. Another rapidly growing standard
is the use of player monitoring which allows companies to watch how their players play and
react to the games they play and react to them further developing and refining their games.
User generated content is another feature rapidly expanding in the gaming industry (Skyrim’s
Steam workshop recently reached 30,000,000 downloads) which allows gamers not only to
customise their gaming experience but allows game developers to earn more from their
games without themselves developing new content (as more people will buy the game for its
mod capabilities).
Where Will The Income Come From?
As digital transactions are increasing in popularity so is online gaming. Games like World Of
Warcraft (10 million subscribers paying £9 a month) having such success have prompted
many companies to opt for a subscription model of online gaming while others opt for a ‘pay
to win’ model where players can only access a games best features and equipment by paying
and many more. Onlive.co.uk is another rapidly growing aspect of the gaming industry it
allows players to rent games for a period of time and play them on the cloud without need
for downloads or consoles.