Introduction

The digital games industry works hard to present itself as significant in revenue terms, and innovative in technological terms. As game researchers start to gather independent data we have a better basis from which to evaluate these claims. Since the early part of this decade a number of industrial and production changes have become evident. As in other media industries, the digital games industry has shifted from the production of material goods to the provision of digital services. Industry data now indicates that digital revenues are exceeding material revenues in some markets – in the American market this trend appeared around 2012. In an industry worth more than $100 billion globally the most rapidly growing segments are online and mobile. More significantly, new business models have emerged – like free to play – and advertising has been growing as a source of revenue (NewZoo, 2016). These shifts have led to new market entrants, including digital distribution companies from outside of the games industry and from different parts of the world. It has also meant that new occupations have been created that either did not exist before, or existed in highly informal ways.

It is tempting to point to these trends as indicating radical technological innovation in the digital games industry. It is all too easy to fall into an uncritical technological determinism – that companies, workers, and players must change in accordance with technological innovation. Yet, histories of media and technology studies more generally would caution against such an approach. My research conducted over roughly two decades on the digital games industry has pointed to some surprising similarities to other media industries and the persistence of certain inequalities in the access to and performance of work in digital games.