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Matthew Leonard's Game Industry Event Timeline

By Matthew Leonard
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    Timeline timespan

  • Game revenue exceeds film revenue

    Game revenue exceeds film revenue
    Date: During 2008
    Question 1: What was the event?
    This event describes how the video game industry creates more revenue than the movie and film industry. Even though both industries generated billions of dollars, it was during 2008 that the game industry surpassed the film industry in total revenue.

  • Part 2

    Part 2
    Question 2: What impact did this event have on the industry as a whole?
    This showed that the game industry was bigger than the film industry, which gave a sort of credibility to the industry overall. Question 3: What impact would this event have had on you as a designer working in the game industry?
    It would have given me more credit for being a game designer, as it shows it is serious industry to be a part of financially.

  • Reference

    Reference
    Chatfield, T. (September 26, 2009). Videogames now outperform Hollywood movies. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/technology/gamesblog/2009/sep/27/videogames-hollywood

  • Kickstarter launches

    Kickstarter launches
    Date: August 28, 2009
    Question 1: What was the event?
    The website Kickstarter opens, which a crowd-sourcing website for people to donate money to specific projects.

  • Part 2

    Part 2
    Question 2: What impact did this event have on the industry as a whole?
    Game developers have another way to fund their games. They can open projects on the website and hope to get funded to create new games. It also allows for more interactivity between the game developers and those that wish to support them.

  • Part 3

    Part 3
    Question 3: What impact would this event have had on you as a designer working in the game industry?
    If I was an indie game maker, this would have helped me fund games that would have a limited market. I could get the money for the games from the people that actually want the games. It would also help to advertise the games I wanted to make.

  • Reference

    Reference
    Adler, C. (March 18, 2011). How Kickstarter Became a Lab for Daring Prototypes and Ingenious Products. Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/03/ff_kickstarter/

  • Part 2

    Part 2
    Question 2: What impact did this event have on the industry as a whole?
    It helped the 3DS become a success as a console, as it was considered to be very expensive before. It re-established Nintendo as the dominant player in the handheld market.

  • Part 3

    Part 3
    Question 3: What impact would this event have had on you as a designer working in the game industry?
    It would have opened the current generation of handheld consoles to a larger audience, so it would have appealed to me to develop games for the system. It would also be a good system to develop for, as it has a digital shop for people to buy games from.

  • Reference

    Reference
    (September 28, 2011). Nintendo 3DS price drops to $169.99, as great value and new 3D games come together. https://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew/detail/fttgI7OsQIB1tZqRMa5CtT45KLrmNkAY

  • 3DS drops in price

    3DS drops in price
    Date: August 12, 2011
    Question 1: What was the event?
    The 3DS dropped in price from $249.99 to $169.99 to appeal to more people.

  • Steam Greenlight

    Steam Greenlight
    Date: August 30, 2012
    Question 1: What was the event?
    Steam opened up the service called Steam Greenlight, which allows for the Steam community to approve of software ideas to be available for purchase on Steam.

  • Part 2

    Part 2
    Question 2: What impact did this event have on the industry as a whole?
    It allowed for a large number of games to be advertised and distributed on Steam, as a community needs to approve of games and other software to become available to buy from the online service.

  • Part 3

    Part 3
    Question 3: What impact would this event have had on you as a designer working in the game industry?
    This would have allowed me to more easily distribute my games to the general public, by going through the process of getting the games approved and liked by a community of people looking at new games.

  • Reference

    Reference
    (August 30, 2012). Valve Launches Steam Greenlight. http://store.steampowered.com/news/8761/

  • China lifts ban on game consoles

    China lifts ban on game consoles
    Date: January 7, 2014
    Question 1: What was the event?
    China temporarily lifts a 14-year ban it had on video game consoles to protect its youth. This allowed for the major game consoles to be sold in the country.

  • Part 3

    Part 3
    Question 3: What impact would this event have had on you as a designer working in the game industry?
    This would increase my efforts to make console games, as a large market just opened for console games. I may market my games less for China though, as the online market may shrink due to consoles cutting into the China game market.

  • Reference

    Reference
    Carsten, P. (January 7, 2014). China suspends ban on video game consoles after more than a decade. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/07/us-china-gamesconsoles-idUSBREA0606C20140107

  • Part 2

    Part 2
    Question 2: What impact did this event have on the industry as a whole?
    This affected all aspects of the industry. The country was dominated by the computer and online games as those were the only games allowed. With the ban lifted, it opens up the third largest market in the world to all of the other consoles on the market.