Task - 1 Structure – The Value Chain

Developers:
Game developers are the people who come up with the game such as the elements and the structure  of the game how it will play and what it will look like once brain storming all the ideas they then give the ideas to the team who will then begin to start to put the pieces together like adding music and making the characters


Publishers:
Game publishers are a massive part of the industry as they help out in the marketing side of the business as they handle the marketing side of the game they put out all of the advertisements and get the game on the shelf's for it to be sold without a publisher no games would ever get sold as there is no one to sell them.

Console Manufacturers/First Party Publishers:

There are a bunch of different console manufacturers such as microsoft and sony and they have both had there time at the top such as when sony released the playstation 2 or when microsoft released the xbox 360. When releasing the 360 microsoft decided to put it out a lot quicker than sony had put out the playstation 3 which caused microsoft to get a lot more sales especially as the ps3 was very high in price. When Nintendo released the gameboy a small portable games console which sky rocketed in sales noticing this Sony brought out the psp which sold well but not better than the gameboy which was then replaced with the ds an upgraded gameboy which had to screens.      

Distribution and Retail
There are different ways to sell a game but it will always start with the developer and end with the gamer. The traditional way of selling games starts with the developer who makes the game which is then sent to the publishers who will sort out things such as marketing QA and sends it to the place to be sold. The publishers then give the game to the retailer who will put the game in the place in shops and app stores depending on what the game is then eventually the gamer will be able to buy the game.


Direct to retailer means you cut out the Publishers which means the developer handles the marketing and QA and such things then send the game straight to the retailer who will sell the game to the gamers.

Direct to Gamer is when the developer will make the whole game then put it on the internet to be downloaded or played online. This is a high risk high reward way of distribution as it does not have a lot of advertising usually and has to be fully made by the developer but if it is a success will make a high profit which will go straight to the developer      

Outsourcing Companies
Outsourcing Companies is when a company is either missing a part of the team so they send it off to a different company who will be paid to do that work which gives the main company more time to work on the rest of the game or they can polish up parts of the game they have already done to make for a better gaming experience. Ubisoft are a company that outsource to other Ubisoft establishments as they are still the same company which makes it easier and they can still credit them for the game.    

Press and Media
When a game is made it is reviewed by different companies such as IGN who will look at the game and the aspects of it and give their verdict this can either make a game sell or it will make the game look bad and not sell as a lot of people will look at the reviews to see if they should get it but the downside is a good game could be made and if it gets a bad review it won't sell as much as it should because people will look at it and see it as a bad game.