Task 1 Structure – The Value Chain

Developer
A video game developer is a who specializes in video game development specifically. A game developer can be a single person who undertakes all tasks him/herself or a large group of people who are developers but specialise in a specific department of the development process. with responsibilities split between them, such as programming, design, art, testing, the job is made much more easier than it would be for a single person (depending on the target and the quality aimed for as an ending result). Depending on the developer, the game (ending product) can be made available for people to access either online or as hard copy. People such as Indie developers give out their games for free! And the way they distribute their games is through the internet! Most Indie developers upload their games to a website which have the download option that can be accessed by anyone. On the other hand a developer (most of them) sell their games for money. These devs can use the same websites like steam etc and the same way that is used for the free ones however these ones would have a price. The other alternative to online downloading and cloud games (as explained above) is hard copies (Disks, dvds, blurays etc). This alternative is mostly used by wellknown and big developer companies owned by Playstation, Microsoft, NaughtyDog, Ubisoft etc

Publisher

Publishers are companies who come in the scene when a game developer wants their game to be advertised or available to the public in the context of the developer's choice.  Depending on what publisher is hired, the game can be successful even if its not good! For example, if 2kgames publish a game that was enjoyed and loved by many and became a success, people are likely to buy the next game they publish purely because they expect good material to be published by this company considering the success of their previous publishes. Some publishers give a better sales estimate than others, this is because some are more well known and have more followers and fans than others. For example, EA (Electronic Arts) sells as many as 1.5 millions copies of fifa (on average) per year. Compared to less major and smaller publisher, EA is bound to sell at least a 100 copies of a game no matter how bad it is purely because out of 1.5 million of fifa fans, at least a few will try this game purely because they have been with EA for a while or are loyal fans.  Whereas the smaller company does not have this many fans or followers so the sales estimate is bound to be lower. This of course means that EA will be a lot more expensive compared to this other company. Each year publishers try their best to make the most revenue to finish on top of the top publishers' list. Here is a list of this year, and last year's list: http://www.metacritic.com/feature/game-publisher-rankings-for-2012-releases


Mobile Platform- Softwares used in mobile phones. Eg Pc’s use windows, Macs have Linux installed etc. For all devices softwares are most likely different. Mobile phones stared off with using Java as the software/base for the interface used by users. Nowadays things have evolved to a whole new level. Now the two most known mobile platforms are IOS (Used by Apple) and Android (Universal, can be used by anyone) and the recently released windows phones that use special Microsoft os. The evolution of going from Java to the IOS and Android has enabled us to do things people couldn’t dream to be able to do on phones. In the games industry this is also a very big aspect because gaming on phones, tablets etc. is becoming very popular.
Linkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_operating_system

Distribution and Retail 

The sellers. For game companies to make money they want the buyers to easily be able to purchase their product and to do so, they need distributers and retailers. Distrisbutors and retailers make this possible by making the game accessable for potential customers. Some distribbutors are well known than others which means they get more traffic. And this is exactly what a developer wants! As mant people considering to buy his/her game as possible. 

Outsourcing companies

These are services that enable us to hire people with skills in different roles. Roles like animators, artists, musicians, developers etc. These services are carried and these people are hired for a few different reasons. For example someone can contact an outsourcing company in order to get some sound effects, graphics, character models and landscaping designed. The company (or person if he/she is a freelancer) Do all the work for you.  However not all of the examples given would be covered by one person. For each one there would be a different specialist for example for graphics you would want a good artist and someone with good knowledge of the softwares involved and for sound effects it is not logical to use the artist because his/her specialty is different to the sound aspect.

Press and Media

Press and media include giving us news, Q&A’s, feedback, release dates etc on games and any gaming related events. The press and media in this industry has the power to make or break a game. Because it is us (the media) who decide whether we like something or not, the press and media hired or established for certain companies want to know what we want, what we think, what we don’t like etc. So they have ideas about what to make next. And if it is up to our liking's we let rate it good, if its not, we rate it bad! Which shows how we have the power to shape the opinion of someone who hasn't played the game just by leaving bad or good reviews! 

Another part of press and media in this industry is like in any other industry, to cover events and make them available for us to view, read or listen to.

First Party Publisher

A first party publisher is a part of a video game console manufacturing company.They do not own the console manufacturing or the whole company itself however they can be very important (Depending on their success) For example God of War is published by  a first party publisher working for sony and because their product was so successful, they are an important part of the company. First party publishers are also allowed to use the company's name.