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Very great article. Another thing I would love to see established is that there is no such thing as a game industry. Using the same analogy, it would be like sa

by highCs 12y ago

Very great article. Another thing I would love to see established is that there is no such thing as a game industry. Using the same analogy, it would be like saying: the startup industry. It's nonsense obviously.

keerthiko 12y ago
That's a weird claim. Are you suggesting to bundle it into the "tech industry", unless you deny that exists either? Or into the "software industry"? Maybe the "entertainment industry"? Perhaps "art industry"? Your hypothetical "startup industry" doesn't make sense because they're not tied together with respect to products. But there is a "tech industry" or "software industry" or "web tech industry" where the constituent players actually are related by product/service sector. I don't see why you find that the most important thing that needs to be established. Why does it matter and how is it negatively affecting those (or any) businesses to refer to the games industry as such? I think game development, publishing, services, esports, conventions and such are enough of a mature ecosystem to be considered it's own "industry."
- deleted 12y ago
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- Retric 12y ago
  The "tech industry" is a subset of everyone building technology. Just as most software is developed outside of the "software industry" Sure, some Airlines may write more lines of code than Apple in a given year, but there not software companies. As to games it's not broken down in the same way. For example some commercially generated games may be advertising for other products or even training tools so lumping those in with Call of Duty is pointless. Thus, rather than focusing on how their produced people break things out based on how their used and who pays for them.
  - _delirium 12y ago
    Even among what you might call "consumer-targeted games", investing seems quite different among different budgets and audiences as well. For example IndieFund has been quite successful as an investor by picking a specific niche that the people running it understand well enough to pick promising games, and provide relevant advice to the companies they fund. But this list of games is hardly a random subset of games in general: http://indie-fund.com/games/ http://indie-fund.com/games/ Other investors I've run into also seem quite specialized. A bunch focus on mobile games. One that I've had second-hand contact with invests only in simulation games sold in boxed copies in Germany (this is a surprisingly large market). And then the console market is a whole other kettle of fish, because the console makers themselves have a pitch and funding process, which changes the dynamics a bit.
mathattack 12y ago
Are you arguing that industries themselves don't exist? Yes, they are an artificial construct with very fuzzy boundaries, but you need to sort companies some way or another.
- highCs 12y ago
  > Are you arguing that industries themselves don't exist? I think an industry exists when there's large-scale production associated with predictable returns. Like say the car industry.
Igglyboo 12y ago
Using your argument you can say that the only industries that exist are the service industry and the product industry.

by highCs 12y ago

keerthiko 12y ago

That's a weird claim. Are you suggesting to bundle it into the "tech industry", unless you deny that exists either? Or into the "software industry"? Maybe the "entertainment industry"? Perhaps "art industry"? Your hypothetical "startup industry" doesn't make sense because they're not tied together with respect to products. But there is a "tech industry" or "software industry" or "web tech industry" where the constituent players actually are related by product/service sector. I don't see why you find that the most important thing that needs to be established. Why does it matter and how is it negatively affecting those (or any) businesses to refer to the games industry as such? I think game development, publishing, services, esports, conventions and such are enough of a mature ecosystem to be considered it's own "industry."

deleted 12y ago
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Retric 12y ago
The "tech industry" is a subset of everyone building technology. Just as most software is developed outside of the "software industry" Sure, some Airlines may write more lines of code than Apple in a given year, but there not software companies. As to games it's not broken down in the same way. For example some commercially generated games may be advertising for other products or even training tools so lumping those in with Call of Duty is pointless. Thus, rather than focusing on how their produced people break things out based on how their used and who pays for them.
- _delirium 12y ago
  Even among what you might call "consumer-targeted games", investing seems quite different among different budgets and audiences as well. For example IndieFund has been quite successful as an investor by picking a specific niche that the people running it understand well enough to pick promising games, and provide relevant advice to the companies they fund. But this list of games is hardly a random subset of games in general: http://indie-fund.com/games/ http://indie-fund.com/games/ Other investors I've run into also seem quite specialized. A bunch focus on mobile games. One that I've had second-hand contact with invests only in simulation games sold in boxed copies in Germany (this is a surprisingly large market). And then the console market is a whole other kettle of fish, because the console makers themselves have a pitch and funding process, which changes the dynamics a bit.

mathattack 12y ago

Are you arguing that industries themselves don't exist? Yes, they are an artificial construct with very fuzzy boundaries, but you need to sort companies some way or another.

highCs 12y ago
> Are you arguing that industries themselves don't exist? I think an industry exists when there's large-scale production associated with predictable returns. Like say the car industry.

Igglyboo 12y ago

Using your argument you can say that the only industries that exist are the service industry and the product industry.