OWNERSHIP AND OPERATING MODE VIDEO GAMES Miles Thorpe

OWNERSHIP AND OPERATING MODE – VIDEO GAMES Miles Thorpe

CONGLOMERATE COMPANIES A company that is made up of subsidiaries. Subsidiaries are smaller companies in their own right but still operate under a conglomerate. Nintendo – Mario, Pokémon, Legend of Zelda EA (Electronic Arts) – FIFA, Battlefield, Star Wars Series

INDEPENDENT COMPANIES An independent company is not owned by another company; it operates and makes products by itself. Mojang - Minecraft (until 2014 when bought by Microsoft) Team Meat - Super Meat Boy Hello Games - No Mans Sky, Joe Danger

SYNERGY/CROSS-MEDIA COMPANIES A term used to describe the cross-promotion of products. Synergy is therefore about different products and processes working together. In 2018 to coincide with the cinema release of Avengers: Infinity War, Fortnite released a special game mode entitled "Infinity Gauntlet Limited Time Mashup". The limited time addition featured Thanos and the infinity gauntlet in game. The 2015 released video game Lego Dimensions featured multiple crossovers with other media products which included Lord of the Rings, Doctor Who, DC Comics, Jurrasic World, Ghostbusters and E. T.

Jobs within the industry - Video games Game testers- This role does what it says on the tin as it involves the testing of video games to look out for any bugs or glitches it may have. Testers of computer games can suggest improvements that they reckon should be made to the developer before it enters general sale. Visual artists and modelers- This job requires for the making of a games graphic and visual material. This is a very important role as high quality, cutting-edge graphics are nowadays expected of all video games. Designs for areas such as backgrounds, landscapes, characters, buildings and vehicles are required to be made with 3 D computer technology. Game programmers- This job involves having to undertake the necessary programming or coding for the mechanics of a video game to function and work as intended. The role can also involve building the game engine, rendering graphics and working with A. I. A strong understanding of physics can help a lot in this job as games become more and more realistic. Audio engineers- Requires those in the role to create sounds for video games. This can vary from character dialogue, sounds of the environment where the game cinematic soundtracks that immerse players in the game. Writers- Charged with writing the actual storyline of the video game. Writers working on games should have the skills to write an in-depth narrative story arcs and strong characterization.

SUCCESSES AND FAILURES IN THE VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY Some of the biggest financial successes in the video game industry has included the following: The Mario franchise has sold over half a million of its video game titles worldwide and these successes have gone on to spawn much merchandise and other media products such as a TV series, comic book, manga and a movie. FIFA has sold around 260 million copies and is still a successful and one of the most popular sporting games ever released. Call of Duty has around 229 million copies sold. It is listed in the Guinness book of World records as the best first person shooter game of all time. One of the biggest financial failures in the gaming industry E. T. The Extra-Terrestrial was a 1982 game rushed to the market in time for Christmas of that year and was reportedly coded in just 5 weeks. Its considered by many critics be one of the one worst video games of all time and faired poorly with its sales numbers. The game is considered to have been a large contributing factor to the collapse of the game developer Atari. Inc.

CRITICAL SUCCESSESS AND FAILURES Best rated games according to Metacritic rating system