This page is part of the CRIC web archive

Digital Games Industries:
Developments, Impact and Direction

The Emergence and Growth of Digital Gaming: the Case of First Person Shooters

Magnus Holmén
National Graduate School of Management, Australian National University, Australia

Whilst there is an extensive literature on increasing returns to adoption dealing with models, concepts and empirical studies, few studies deal with the relative strengths of different mechanisms of increasing returns and how this may change over time. Hence, this paper contributes to this issue by an analysis of the evolution of a particular computer games industry (first person corridor shooters). Because all types of increasing returns work in the sector, it illustrates the working of increasing returns while at the same time the history of the sector is quite well documented.

A common theme in the literature on increasing returns deals with the issue of lock-in and on the relative merits of being a prime or first mover. However, the related issue of the 'breakup' of lock-ins is rarely treated. Hence, the article analyses when, how and why this happens in the first person shooter industry.

Actors are differentiated by making an analysis of actor relations in two ways. On the one hand, relations are determined through technology, especially in terms of platforms, applications and application diversification, and software tools. On the other, actor relations are differentiated in whether they take place on the market or through networking (producer-user) relations.

The paper addresses how online participation (newsgroups) can be used to study industrial change. Albeit common in sociological studies dealing with user behaviour, these methods so far have been little used in evolutionary studies. A qualitative difference lies in the fact that techno-economic 'observation' here is indirect in that newsgroup participants talk of the phenomenon, but they are not the phenomenon.

Return to Workshop Programme

Top

CRIC is now proud to be part of the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research (MIoIR)
Centre for Research on Innovation and Competition (CRIC), The University of Manchester,
Harold Hankins Building, Booth Street West, Manchester M13 9QH, England
Phone +44 (0)161 275 7365 Fax: +44 (0) 161 275 7361
Site maintained by: Ishty Hussain

Digital Games Industries: Developments, Impact and Direction

The Emergence and Growth of Digital Gaming: the Case of First Person Shooters

Digital Games Industries:
Developments, Impact and Direction