Task 1 Structure – The Value Chain

Publishers:

A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer.

As with book publishers or publishers of DVD movies, video game publishers are responsible for their product's manufacturing and marketing, including market research and all aspects of advertising.

They usually finance the development, sometimes by paying a video game developer (the publisher calls this external development) and sometimes by paying an internal staff of developers called a studio. The large video game publishers also distribute the games they publish, while some smaller publishers instead hire distribution companies (or larger video game publishers) to distribute the games they publish.

Other functions usually performed by the publisher include deciding on and paying for any license that the game may utilize; paying for localization; layout, printing, and possibly the writing of the user manual; and the creation of graphic design elements such as the box design.

Large publishers may also attempt to boost efficiency across all internal and external development teams by providing services such as sound design and code packages for commonly needed functionality.

Because the publisher usually finances development, it usually tries to manage development risk with a staff of producers or project managers to monitor the progress of the developer, critique ongoing development, and assist as necessary. Most video games created by an external video game developer are paid for with periodic advances on royalties. These advances are paid when the developer reaches certain stages of development, called milestones. 

Information sourced from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_publisher

Developers:

A video game developer is a software developer that specializes in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games.[1][2] A game developer can range from a single person who undertakes all tasks to a large business with employee responsibilities split between individual disciplines, such as programming, design, art, testing, etc. Most game developer companies have video game publisher financial and usually marketing support.[3] Self-funded developers are known as independent or indie developers and usually make indie games.[4]

A developer may specialize in a certain video game console (such as Nintendo's Wii U, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3), or may develop for a number of systems (including personal computers).[citation needed] Video-game developers specialize in certain types of games (such as role-playing video games or first-person shooters). Some focus on porting games from one system to another, or translating games from one language to another. Less commonly, some do other kinds of software-development work in addition to games.

Most video game publishers maintain development studios (such as Electronic Arts's EA Canada, Square Enix's studios, Activision's Radical Entertainment, Nintendo EAD and Sony's Polyphony Digital and Naughty Dog). However, since publishing is still their primary activity they are generally described as "publishers" rather than "developers". Developers may be private as well (such as Bungie, the company which developed the Halo series exclusive to Microsoft's Xbox).

Information sourced from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_developer

Outsourcing Companies:

In business, outsourcing is the contracting out of a business process to a third-party. The term "outsourcing" became popular in the United States near the turn of the 21st century. Outsourcing sometimes involves transferring employees and assets from one firm to another, but not always. Outsourcing is also used to describe the practice of handing over control of public services to for-profit corporations. 

Outsourcing includes both foreign and domestic contracting, and sometimes includes offshoring or relocating a business function to another country. Financial savings from lower international labour rates is a big motivation for outsourcing/offshoring.

The opposite of outsourcing is called insourcing, which entails bringing processes handled by third-party firms in-house, and is sometimes accomplished via vertical integration. However, a business can provide a contract service to another business without necessarily insourcing that business process.

Information sourced from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsourcing

Console Manufactures and First Party Publishers:

A console manufacturer, also known as a first-party video game publisher, is a company that manufactures and distributes video game consoles in addition to permitting third-party publishers to produce games for its platform in return to licensing fees. Historically, some of the most recognized console manufacturers include:

Atari – first console market leader; now defunct.

Intellivision – the alternative to Atari 2600 in 1979, Intellivision offered voice command modules and Tron; now defunct.

Microsoft – the newest major player in the market, releasing the Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles.

Nintendo – historically the best known console manufacturer; also the longest running company in the market, and long-time dominant market leader of the handheld console market.

Sega – a significant manufacturer during the 16-bit era, now a third-party publisher.

Sony Computer Entertainment – found worldwide success with its first console, the Sony PlayStation, the PlayStation 2 (which holds the record for bestselling home console to date), and the PlayStation 3.

Information sourced from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Console_manufacturer

First party publishers are a company owned by the console manufacture. For example, the console manufacturer Microsoft owns the first party publishing company Bungie. The console manufacturer Sony owns the first party publishing company NAUGHTY DOG. 

   Mobile Platforms and Social Networking:

A mobile operating system, also referred to as mobile OS, is the Operating System that operates a smartphone, tablet, PDA, or other digital mobile device. Modern mobile operating systems combine the features of a personal computer operating system with other features, including a touchscreen, cellular, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS mobile navigation, camera, video camera, speech recognition, voice recorder, music player, near field communication and Infrared Blaster.

Information sourced from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_platforms

A social networking service is a platform to build social networks or social relations among people who, for example, share interests, activities, backgrounds, or real-life connections. A social network service consists of a representation of each user (often a profile), his/her social links, and a variety of additional services. Most social network services are web-based and provide means for users to interact over the Internet, such as e-mail and instant messaging. Online community services are sometimes considered as a social network service, though in a broader sense, social network service usually means an individual-centred service whereas online community services are group-centred. Social networking sites allow users to share ideas, pictures, posts, activities, events, and interests with people in their network.

The main types of social networking services are those that contain category places (such as former school year or classmates), means to connect with friends (usually with self-description pages), and a recommendation system linked to trust. Popular methods now combine many of these, with American-based services such as Facebook, Google+, tumblr and Twitter widely used worldwide; Nexopia in Canada; Badoo, Bebo VKontakte, Delphi (online service) (also called Delphi Forums), Draugiem.lv (mostly in Latvia), Hi5, Hyves (mostly in The Netherlands), iWiW (mostly in Hungary), Nasza-Klasa, Soup (mostly in Poland), Glocals in Switzerland, Skyrock, The Sphere, StudiVZ (mostly in Germany), Tagged, Tuenti (mostly in Spain), and XING in parts of Europe; Hi5 and Orkut in South America and Central America; Mxit in Africa; and Cyworld, Mixi, Orkut, renren, weibo and Wretch in Asia and the Pacific Islands.

There have been attempts to standardize these services to avoid the need to duplicate entries of friends and interests (see the FOAF standard and the Open Source Initiative [clarification needed]). A 2011 survey found that 47% of American adults use a social networking service.

Information sourced from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networking_service

Press and Media:

It's up to these to help us decide whether or not we purchase a game. These people get the game sent to them before release and play though it using every aspect of it, story online ect, Then they write a full review of the game covering every aspect, graphics plot characters. The better the media ratting the more people will probably buy the game. So, it's in every interest of the game developers and publishers to impress them, or their hard work could mean they struggle to make a profit on their product.

Distribution and Retail:

Once a game has completed it's development it is then distributed all over the world until it's release date when gamers everywhere can get there hands on it. The Publishing team is responsible for this, they decide how much the game will cost, how it's going to be advertised and how it's going to be packed (what the casing will look like).