Videogames 5 - Regulation of the Videogame Industry

Regulation of the Videogame Industry

• Regulation of the videogame industry is largely ineffective, due to convergent technologies.

Regulation

• One way videogames are regulated are by PEGI icons of warnings of things such as, sex, drugs and violence. There are some icons which are vague such as bad language and fear. This usually makes the parent decide whether it is suitable for their child to play the game, they are usually the main consumers.
• Previously regulation was more vague, in Britain, the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) in 1989 regulated games, there were age restrictions and include some information of the game. It was usually up to the creator of the game to say whether the game was for adults or children could play too.
• In 2003, Pan European Game Infromation (PEGI) was introduced, it is similar to the BBFC but somewhat different. The age labels and content descriptors are warnings for maturity and how offensive the game is, this allows the parents to decide whether it is suitable for their child to play, there are no obligations on age restrictions and it is ony the advisory, the person working can decide whether to sell the game to the child or not.
• The BBFC would also used to sometimes regulate videogames if it had FMV (Full Motion Video), not every game featured FMV so some never gained an age certificate. For example, 'Resident Evil 2' from the 90s gained a BBFC certificate of 15 as it features FMV of scenes that could be harmful however 'Silent Hill', a psychological horror game include adult themes but doesn't have a certificate but ELSPA 18+ but would be considered more harmful than 'Resident Evil 2', also shops at that time would sell videogames to anyone who may be younger than the restriction however with the BBFC rating it would not be sold to anyone younger.
• Livingstone and Hunt - Regulation - Increasing power of global media corprations with rise in technologies and transformations in production, distribution and marketing of digital media, have placed traditional approaches to media regulation at risk.
• Consumer based content regulation - PEGI - informed choices of what it contains for audiences with age recommendations and content descriptors. This makes the consumer make a decison.
• Self regulation - For example, 'code of conduct', in digital distribution services such as YouTube, different form of regulation as it's an American company will be different to how it is in the UK, very ineffective such as a pop up box asking if you're 18+, anyone can click yes easily.
• The effective regulation of media products is largely impossible due to digitally convergent technologies such as piracy, the issues of legality and ethics, the revenue is taken away like copyright. Another issue is the issue of regulation not in just piracy but digitally downloading videogames from places such as Steam, where there are either no age restrictions or strict regulations.
• Regulation is important to protect people vulnerable to certain adult themes.
• Assassins' Creed - raises regulatory issues for the series as it includes violence and is based on murder and assassination being acceptable for usually a political goal, the game series uses a mixture of PEGI and BBFC ratings usually 18+. The regulation is then not effective with confusing ratings of a game in the AC series with a BBFC rating or PEGI rating, it also doesn't stop younger and impressionable audiences from playing the games such as digital convergence. The implications of this is regualtion of the videogame industry in the UK is highly ineffective.

Preventing harm

• Reguations are needed for protecting intellectual property or copyright and prevent harm.

Assassin's Creed: Odyssey - gameplay

• The material in the game that is likely to harm or offend an audience is the acts of violence especially it is seen more detailed in cutscenes such as the beginning, we see stabbings.
• I believe this game deserves an age rating of 18+ because the acts of violence can be seen as quite gory.
• I further reached this conclusion when you have to find and talk to the character 'Markos', in which you fight him and then kill him along with others in the area.
• Being an interactive videogame affects the potential harm and distress the game may cause as the audience or player controls the game and you have to assassinate and commit other acts of violence.
• The game tries to be inclusive and accessible to audiences from being available on multiple platforms such as Xbox, PlayStation, PC either in a physical copy or downloaded digitally.
• I believe the target audience of the game is young men, ages of 18 - 20s, however I could see young teenage boys playing it with regulations not being very effective from a middle class socio-background.

Videogames 4 - Ubisoft, media diversity, and economic factors in the Videogame Industry

Ubisoft, media diversity and economic factors in the Videogame Industry

Ubisoft and media diversity

• Ubisoft is a multinational (transnational multimedia corporation) conglomerate videogame developer.
• Ubisoft produces and distributes Assassins' Creed series and other triple-a (AAA) videogames.
• David Hesmonghalgh - cultural industries - media industries seek to minimise risk and maximise profit. Vertical integration - when a conglomerate owns more than one sector of  the industry. Horizontal integration - when a conglomerate owns more than one subsidiary in the same sector. Multimedia integration - using digital technologies to combine previously seperated industries. Ubisoft is both vertically and horizontally integrated, with a number of studios and subsidiaries.
• Ubisoft is the 4th largest publicly trade game company in Europe and the Americas.
• Established in 1986 in France.
• They publish and develop a range of games in different genres, targeting vast and wildly different audiences. They do this because it minimises risks and maximise profit.
• The game, 'Rayman', 1995, is a platform game, the USP was it was a high production quality game for a 2D game. This made Ubisoft more well-known as the game became popular.
• The franchise, 'Just Dance', is another popular game of Ubisoft with the USP of not having to be good at playing videogames, it is fun casual game targeted at families. Large range of music, usually popular, with regional pop music to gain a larger audience.
• Diversification - A media practice where an organisation will seek to produce a diverse or different media products to help them target a range of different audiences.
• Ubisoft has not only diversified in videogame genres but has vertically integrated into Ubisoft Motion Pictures, they have created such as Assassins' Creed film. It can create the audince of their existing players and fans of the franchise watching it but also create and target audiences which they haven't targeted before.
• Curran and Seaton - power and media industries - the media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by profit and power. They argue that this creates a problem of media concentration that limits variety, creativity and quality, this is why more socially diverse patterns of ownership is needed to create more varied and adventurous media productions. Ubisoft's output and its diversity is arguably offers a standardised and generic product with a focus on mainstream, big budget development. No risk, and profit. This saturates the market such as releasing so many games in the AC series.
• Stagnation and reorganisation - Ubisoft has stated in Janurary 2020, to reorganise its editorial board to fundamentally create more variation in its games from weak sales and games becoming too repetitive and stale.
• The issues of aggressive conglomerisation, Ubisoft has pushed to gain mass profit by mostly minimising their risks such as releasing 12 games in the AC series in the past 13 years. This limits creativity, with releasing primarily similar games, it limits competiton as Ubisoft is so massive only the few massive conglomerates are the only competiton and also limits diversity, Ubisoft does release a variety of games however it targets mostly mainstream and large audiences.

Ubisoft - game examples

Rayman (1995)

• Platform game.
• Available on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation, MS-DOS, Sega Saturn, Atari Jaguar, Game Boy Color. Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DSi, IOS, Android.
• Target audience - Kids.
• The critical reception is seen as good, becoming a very popular game.
• The commercial successes include being the best selling Playstation game of all time in the UK and was awarded 'Best Music in a CD-ROM Game' and 'Best Animation' in Electronic Gaming Monthly 1995 Video Game Awards.

Far Cry (2004)

• First-person shooter game.
• Available on Micorsoft Windows. PS3 and Xbox 360.
• Target audience - 16 to early twenties, primarily men.
• Critical reception, metacritic score of 89.
• The commercial successes include selling over 730,000 units within 4 months of release and has released more games compiling a series.

Watch Dogs (2014)

• Action-adventure game.
• Available on Microsoft Windows, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U.
• Target audience - Men 18 to twenties.
• Critical reception, metacritic score of around 80.
• The commercial successes include selling 4 million copies within the first week.

Assassin's Creed: Unity

• The premise is set in Paris during the French Revolution.
• Available on PS3 and Xbox.
• Released in November 2014.
• It took 2 years to develop and costs around £25.
• The studio which developed the game was Ubisoft Montreal.
• The commercial success of the game was selling 1.59 million copies within the first week, probably making almost $50 million in sales in that week.
• There are special editions, a Bastille Edition, a Collector's Edition, Notre Dame Edition.
• RRP - £25.
• Critical reception, metacritic score of 70.
• The merchandise of the game include posters.

Videogames 3 - Assassin's Creed: The role of Trailers in Marketing

Assassin's Creed: The role of Trailers in Marketing

• Assassin's Creed is a tent-pole or triple-a game.
• You can pre-order the game, however it is usually quite expensive but with marketing the game can convince the audience to buy it early.
• Industry and Audience.
• Possible questions - product attraction and maintaining audiences locally and globally, marketing and promotion. Specific process of production, distribution and circulation shape the game. Digital convergence affects the product in distribution, production and circulation. - trailers.
• The trailer targets a specialised and generalised audience that's either mass or niche. Theory - David Hesmondhalgh - it's needed for industries to minimise risks and maximise profit. Assassin's Creed needs to target a mass audience because of profit and power but also targets a particular niche audience, this is through a particular marketing campaign.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla Trailer

• It targets a mass and niche audience.
• The high production value are seen such as the fur and hair on chracters, the game is suggested to be a high quality game, however the trailer is pre-renderd and won't exactly look like the trailer in gameplay.
• The trailer has paradimatic feautures of film trailers such as a narrative, range of scenes in the narrative of the game, it uses a song that builds up, this may excite the audience.
• There is a clear narrative of vikings and knights, the vikings are seen as the 'bad guys', as they are invading the knight's land, the audience is taken from the perspective of the 'bad guys'.
• There is intertextuality at the end of the trailer, it references the Assassin's Creed franchise - aims at the niche who enjoy the series. For mass, it references fantasy films such as Lord of the Rings films which became very popular, the dark settings of iconography and mise-en-scene of Game of Thrones which is a popular TV show.
• The trailer has minimised risks such as referencing to the Assassin's Creed's Franchise, films and TV shows.
• The game will be a straightfoward game, previous Assassin's Creed games on videogame covers usually features the main character whos face is covered up by a hood with a grey or blue background with direct address. The USP of Assassin's Creed is the game is always set in a historical time period. The genre is hybrid, it's an action-adventure game, the previous games always featured a sci-fi aspect which is never mentioned, it avoids creating confusion.
• It may target the niche audience of those who live in the north of England as the game is set there, but globally it will attract these audiences by violence and history of vikings.
• The game is high budget, so it needs to attract a wide audience.
• Digital convergence allows to target a large audience by the internet, the trailer on YouTube can easily be circulated.

• Fans became mad at the trailer because of the pre-rendered CG as it doesn't really show how to game looks and works when playing it. Ubisoft made this decision to show the 'first look' of the game and make fans excited, as well as targetting a mass audience.

Other Trailers

• Assassin's Creed: E3 annoncement trailer (2007) - Used pre-rendered CG instead of in-game graphics, this could lead to negative reactions of fans as the game won't look like the trailer.
• Assassin's Creed Revelations E3 Trailer (2011) - Ubisoft' marketing strategy is utilised in using prerelease trailers using a famous pop song as it draws in a mass audience as the song will be popular despite being wildly at odds with the franchise.
• Assassin's Creed Odessey: E3 Trailer (2018) - This trailer used in-gameplay graphics, different from other trailers which use pre-rendered CG.

Videogames 2 - Videogames are a Specialised Industry

Videogames as a Specialised Industry

The main questions about the topic of videogames is an industry question or audience question.

Videogames are specialised because:

• Interactivity - You can press buttons to do different actions, this gives control to the audience. 
• There is a large expenditure of specialised resources, especially in major games with large offices and computers with employees who are highly skilled at their work can be expensive to find people.
• Videogames have higher RRP compared with other forms of media products like films and TV shows.
• Videogames are longer in length, games are usually over 10hrs and can be over hundreds of hours, this may explain why they are expensive.
• There is an assumption of dedicated of 'core' audiences and also negative stereotypes, nice audience.
• Videogames are further specialised as they usually use specific hardware like console games, however these games can be multiplatform.

How videogames are developed and marketed:

• Videogames are produced on computers by coding, each studio have their own way of producing a videogame.
• Most videogames begin with concept art in pre-production, it is then taken into design and the game is roughly designed from character, setting, narrative, etc. 
• In production, the videogame will be coded, this usually requires a specialised person in that field. The game is then tested, usually looking for bugs and issues, then it is re-coded. The videogame then creates an alpha version/build, usually with bugs and the beta builds is the almost perfected version with few problems however this version can be leaked. In post-production, particularly with digital convergence, the game is easily patched and maintained when downloading updates. After made, there needs to be marketing and promotion like the Electronic Entertainment Expo, where the game can be shown, there are game trailers that can cause conversation among fans.
• However in indie games, it is done much more differently as it is lower budget and can be marketed in conventions but they are usually much smaller.

E3 - Electronic Entertainment Expo

• It is a trade event for the videogame industry in which many developers, publishers and hardware and accessory manifacturers advertise games and merch to retailers and press.
• It is considered to be the largest gaming-expo of the year.
• Only people with connections to the industry are allowed however recently the conferences have allowed general admissions and with streaming sites, some have broadcasted which fans can watch.
• However there were some issues in 2019 of data being leaked from the ESA site of information about atendees. 

Videogames 1 - Introduction to the Videogame Industry

Videogame Industry Introduction

• Grand Theft Auto V.
• Action-Adventure Game.
• Released in 2013.
• The developer of the game is Rockstar North.
• Published by Rockstar Games.
• The platforms avaliable for the game include, PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, Xbox One and PC.
• The RRP of the game when first sold was approximately £50.
• The units sold and total revenue is $6 billion worldwide. 
• The average review score on metacritic is 97.
• The age rating is PEGI 18.
• The average time to complete the game on all playstyles is 46hrs 28mins.
• The game was made as an open world, they used field research trips, Google Maps and Street view primarily to help replicate Los Angeles for the fictional setting of 'Los Santos', they use the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine, developed by Rockstar Games. It took approximately 3 years to make, the issues the team faced was was delays of the release of the game to the start of 2013, to towards the end, there were also pproblems of parts of the game being leaked before the initial release.

• Minecraft.
• Sandbox video game.
• Released in 2009.
• The developers are Mojang, 4JL Studios, Other Ocean Interactive and Xbox Game Studios.
• The publishers are Mojang, Sony Interactive Entertainment and Xbox Game Studios.
• The platforms available for the game include, Java, Microsoft Windows, Windows 10, Linux, Fire OS, mac OS, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, IOS, Android, Windows Phone, Nintendo 3DS, Playstation Vita, Wii U and Nintendo Switch.
• The RRP of the game when first sold was approximately £10 - £20.
• The units sold and total revenue is $480 million.
• The average review score on metacritic is 90.
• The age rating is PEGI 7.
• The average time to complete the game on all playstyles is 156hrs 54mins.
• The game was made through using Java, it took only 6 days to make for the first version of the game. The issues the team faced are bugs and glitches in the game.

• The Sims 4.
• Life Simulation game.
• Released in 2014.
• The developer was Redwood Shores studio of Maxis.
• The publisher was Electronic Arts.
• The platforms available for the game include PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
• The RRP of the game is when first sold was £30 - £40.
• The units sold and total revenue is $5 billion.
• The average review score on metacritic is 70.
• The age rating is PEGI 12.
• The average time to complete the game on all playstyles is 49hrs 12mins.
• The game took approximately 2 years to make, the issues the team faced was controversy on the type of content players had and those they believed the game lacked.