Last fridays Lecture was held by our Visiting Professor in Games Industry and Business, Gina Jackson, who talked in depth about value chains, variations in the Indie scene, big data, and also fusion.
Particularly interesting was her breakdown of the value chain, highlighting the importance of the distributor, (the lowest risk role in the chain) and the format holder, who are often forgotten or excluded from many people's perceptions of cash flow in the industry. In addition to this, Gina highlighted how each individual game matters less and less as the chain progresses - stressing that the developer and the retailer think very differently about their games.
In terms of Indie developers, Gina also noted that commissioners, including those seen in crowdfunding, sometimes replace publishers, particularly with the dawn of digital distribution. Continuing on from that, she moved onto "big data;" the use of data collection software, particularly in alpha and beta stages of development, to gather information about what players actually did when playing their game, as often what players think and say they do and what they actually do are very different.
Fusion was a smaller aspect of Gina's lecture, but she touched on the idea of fusing different forms of media, such as books and television, noting the importance of new ideas and fusions when pitching a game idea.
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