1. 70’s – 80’s Arcade
Games developed by companys or developers who distributed them via their
own arcade machines were placed in many different locations around the
globe.Coins are used as payment to play the games. In 1978 there was a coin
shortage in japan when space invaders was introduced. This involved a large
investment but clearly all finances were returned in mass amounts.
80’s,90’s,00’s and 10’s – Box Ship, Done
Games developed by companies who distribute them by their
own consoles, both sold through retail and outlets. It is a
closed community and was very lucrative (no console, no
games to play). The result is developers don’t create games
that can’t be played on one of the leading brands of consoles:
microsoft, sony, nintendo... PC and homebrew consoles games
became very popular, but the inconsistancy in the spec of
home computers meant that few of the larger companies got
involved. Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo became dominant in
the market after Sega pulled out of hardware manufacture in 2001.
10’s to the Present Day – Observe, Measure and Modify
There will soon be no physical goods as the amount of content distributed digitally is increasing
greatly. There is no need to manufacture, transport, store and distribute the game content on a disk
as it can all be downloaded online saving the company mass
amounts of money. Because gamers are now playing online
companies can now monitor and respond to them improving
games, consoles and customer support. The gamer is
becoming part of the developing team. Digital distribution
becomes the norm and onlive.co.uk start to offer cloud gaming
without a console. This is primarily due to the distribution of
smart phones, tablets and on-demand TV services.