Legal Affairs concerning the Gaming Industry

When it comes to the gaming industry, all companies must obey specific laws and legal issues that can dramatically affect both their advertising and actual game products. One main example of a limitation can be the age rating. If a company wishes to produce a game, they must first decide on a target age range. Choosing a target audience can alter the end results, as aspects such as age rating can affect the final product. For example, if a game is aimed at ages 12 – 16, it will not likely contain any childish themes, but will most likely not contain strong horror and gory themes either. Another example of a fairly big limitation is the target audience. If a company wants to produce a game to the masses, they will have to design the game so that many different people will enjoy it. For example, the company may wish to avoid making a game that is designed solely for women, as this means that men will probably not buy the product.

When making the advertisements for these games, many more different aspects must be taken into account. An example of a main aspect is choosing the style of the advertisement. With games, it is better to create advertisements that relate to the game itself. Choosing a style that is unlike the product may confuse the audience. For example, it is not a good idea to make an advertisement to a horror genre game that contains content that looks more suitable for a much younger audience. Another aspect that needs to be taken into account when it comes to advertising is iconography. When looking into advertising for a game, it is a good idea to use correct iconography that relates well to the game itself. For example, a picture of a game controller is a good iconographic symbol of gaming. It is important to choose the right type of iconographic images to use in adverts, as it can help to attract the correct target audience.

Institution Information in the Gaming Industry

For this project, I have been researching all about the gaming industry and from my findings, it seems that even though the gaming industry is very vast with many hundreds of gaming companies existing today, there appear to be only three main corporations that are leading ahead of all the other companies. These companies are:

• Sony – a Japanese conglomerate company that was founded in 1946, meaning that it has been running for over 50 years. Sony has become very successful in the games industry with the success of their highest selling games console, the Sony Playstation 3.

• Microsoft – an American multinational company that was founded in 1975, meaning that it has been operational for over 30 years. Microsoft have become very famous and successful not only for their computing software, but also for their highest grossing games console, the Xbox 360.

• Nintendo – another Japanese multinational company that was founded in 1889, making it the oldest running company of the three. Nintendo have become world famous, making both games and consoles for many years, including their most successful console today, the Nintendo Wii.

These three companies are the most recognisable when it comes to gaming consoles, but there are many other companies that make a profit in the games industry by only selling games for the consoles. For example, Ubisoft is a major French games company (recorded as the third largest in 2008) that only makes computer games and not actual consoles. This means that they have to release the games on other company's consoles.

There are also developers who create games, but not on a very large scale. These game developers also make up the majority of game companies in the world, as they are small companies, but very vast in numbers. They are called 'independent game developers'. These companies are called independent game developers because they make all of their games through their own funding, unlike larger mainstream companies who are usually paid/funded by other companies to make their games. The games made by these independent companies are usually called 'indie games', which seems to discriminate them from other games. Because they are independently made, they games made may not be as good or detailed as a mainstream game, but are used to help get an independent developer and his team (if any) noticed by other companies. For example, an independent game production company called SuperGiant Games created a very good indie game called The Bastion, which was a 2-D open world game that was critically acclaimed for it's amazing story over it's gameplay. Many larger companies like Nintendo and Sony probably also started off as independent developers, as many other games companies do. This shows that by doing well in the video games industry, there can be a huge profit to obtain the more successful a company becomes.

Because my game company is designed by me and is not funded by any other company, I would be considered an indie game developer. This can affect sales, as many people want to solely buy games from mainstream companies that they already know. I will need to take this into consideration when deciding on a target audience to aim for.