The Game Industry

EST310/ISE340Fall 2011

Tony Scarlatos

The Videogame Marketplace• Consumers spent $25.1 billion on video games, hardware and accessories in 2010.• Purchases of digital content accounted for 24 percent of game sales in 2010,

generating $5.9 billion in revenue.• Seventy-two percent of American households play computer or video games.• The average game player is 37 years old and has been playing games for 12 years.• The average age of the most frequent game purchaser is 41 years old.• Forty-two percent of all game players are women. In fact, women over the age of

18 represent a significantly greater portion of the game-playing population (37 percent) than boys age 17 or younger (13 percent).

• In 2011, 29 percent of Americans over the age of 50 play video games, an increase from nine percent in 1999.

• Fifty-five percent of gamers play games on their phones or handheld device.• Seventy-six percent of all games sold in 2010 were rated "E" for Everyone, "T" for

Teen, or "E10+" for Everyone 10+.

Industry Employment• Growth – From 2005 to 2009, the entertainment software industry's annual

growth rate exceeded 10 percent. Over the same period, the entire U.S. economy grew at a rate of less than two percent.

• GDP – In 2009, the entertainment software industry's value added to the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was $4.9 billion.

• Employment – The entertainment software industry also continues to grow as a source of employment. For the four-year period of 2005-09, direct employment for the industry grew at an annual rate of 8.6 percent. Currently, computer and video game companies directly and indirectly employ more than 120,000 people in 34 states. The average salary for direct employees is $90,000, resulting in total national compensation of $2.9 billion.

* (Market and Employment data from the Entertainment Software Association, 2011)

Cost of video game development• A study by M2 Research (2010) found:

– The average development budget of a “next gen” multiplatform game is $18M -$28M

– The average development budget of a single-platform game is $10M• The budget for Modern Warfare 2 was $50M• The budget for Halo was $30M, not including marketing. Halo brought

in $170M on its first day of sales• The majority of games sell only about 150K units• The development cycle of a “triple-A” game is between 18 – 24 months• Publishers are under increasing financial pressure from casual games

(Farmville) and from Smartphone games (AngryBirds) where the development costs are much lower and the development cycle is much shorter

Game Design Team Roles

• A game design team is typically 3 – 20 people• Lead Designer (similar to a producer/director)• Game Designer (responsible for core mechanics)• Level Designer (pulls the UI together with core

mechanics)• UI Designer• Writer (backstory, cut scenes, dialog)• Art Director (all visuals)• Audio Director (all audio assets)

Game Design Documents

• High Concept and Game Treatment– Primarily sales tools

• Character Design• World Design• Flowboard (flowchart + storyboard)• Story and Level Progression• The last four are called the “game script”

High Concept Document• Statement

– like an abstract – 1 paragraph that sums up the essence of the game• Player Role

– such as soldier, tycoon…• Primary Gameplay Mode

– such as combat, puzzle solving…• Game genre

– such as FPS, adventure RPG…• Target Audience• Platform (& Peripherals)• Licenses

– such as characters from TV or movies• Competition Modes

– single, multiplayer, competitive or cooperative play• Summary of Game Progression, and Synopsis of Storyline• Game World Description