Millennials were a generation defined by technology. They experienced the uprise of the computer and the evolution from traditional arcade games to personal gaming consoles. The majority of them grew up playing classics such as Pac-man, Atari, Pokémon, and Zelda. To anyone who has referred to themselves as a gamer, a world absent of video games would be unfathomable. Luckily, those die hard gamers out there probably won’t have to say goodbye anytime soon; as of 2015 the American video gaming industry has generated 13.13 billion dollars in sales. However, the future of the video game industry relies on its relationship to it’s environment based off factors such as: politics, economics, advancement of technology, social culture, and legal
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Since the accessibility of game developing programs such as Unity are increasing, many mid-level developers have had their chance to shine. One of the biggest games available right now is Minecraft. It is available through PC, PlayStation, Xbox, smart phone, and most recently, virtual reality. Minecraft started as a very popular third party game that was later bought out by Microsoft and is an excellent example of the effect third party developers can have on the industry. Another big reason these small company developers can afford to get new projects off the ground is the implementation of Kickstarter and other funding options. “[The use of funding] is likely to become ever more common as small studios break out of the traditional publishing model and seek financial assurances before committing to major new projects” (Stuart/Erica). This new backbone that developers receive through funding methods with not only help them in funding the creation of the project but also determine how much the public is interested. One of the newest and most exciting technological advances to come to light is the implementation of virtual reality (VR). While VR technology becomes more prominent, we are seeing a decent amount of well-known companies getting involved in the research. “Big publishers and hardware …show more content…
Currently, the video game industry is in a tight bind with legal issues. Due to the recent blackballing of the industry from politicians the rights of the industry are trying to be stripped away. Mostly, government officials on both the federal and state level try to take the right to buy video games away from minors, much like they do with the sale of movies. Apparently, regulations were not enough in California, because one of the biggest legal debates on this issue was Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA). California had prohibited the sale or rental of violent video games to minors. This also required that every title that was banned be marked with specific label. EMA challenged this ban in federal court where the judge concluded that the prohibition on minors regarding video games was in violation of the First Amendment. The reasoning behind this ruling was that the controversial message that was required to be printed on the games was not factual and therefore the prohibition was not required. The state of California then appealed to the Reports Committee, which ended up siding with EMA once again: “The Reporters Committee’s brief argued that the legislative reaction to violence in video games followed a long pattern of attempts to censor new forms of media, from comic books to motion pictures to rock ‘n’ roll music, and did not
Since the accessibility of game developing programs such as Unity are increasing, many mid-level developers have had their chance to shine. One of the biggest games available right now is Minecraft. It is available through PC, PlayStation, Xbox, smart phone, and most recently, virtual reality. Minecraft started as a very popular third party game that was later bought out by Microsoft and is an excellent example of the effect third party developers can have on the industry. Another big reason these small company developers can afford to get new projects off the ground is the implementation of Kickstarter and other funding options. “[The use of funding] is likely to become ever more common as small studios break out of the traditional publishing model and seek financial assurances before committing to major new projects” (Stuart/Erica). This new backbone that developers receive through funding methods with not only help them in funding the creation of the project but also determine how much the public is interested. One of the newest and most exciting technological advances to come to light is the implementation of virtual reality (VR). While VR technology becomes more prominent, we are seeing a decent amount of well-known companies getting involved in the research. “Big publishers and hardware …show more content…
Currently, the video game industry is in a tight bind with legal issues. Due to the recent blackballing of the industry from politicians the rights of the industry are trying to be stripped away. Mostly, government officials on both the federal and state level try to take the right to buy video games away from minors, much like they do with the sale of movies. Apparently, regulations were not enough in California, because one of the biggest legal debates on this issue was Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA). California had prohibited the sale or rental of violent video games to minors. This also required that every title that was banned be marked with specific label. EMA challenged this ban in federal court where the judge concluded that the prohibition on minors regarding video games was in violation of the First Amendment. The reasoning behind this ruling was that the controversial message that was required to be printed on the games was not factual and therefore the prohibition was not required. The state of California then appealed to the Reports Committee, which ended up siding with EMA once again: “The Reporters Committee’s brief argued that the legislative reaction to violence in video games followed a long pattern of attempts to censor new forms of media, from comic books to motion pictures to rock ‘n’ roll music, and did not