Analysis of Innovation in the Video Game Industry

Abstract

During the last couple decades video game consoles and arcades have been subjected to the unexpected, swift development and spread of mobile gaming. What is it though that allowed physical platforms to yet maintain the market share they have over these new and widely accessible online resources? The aim of this thesis is to provide a deeper understanding of the concept of innovation in the quickly developing world of video games. The analysis is carried out with qualitative methods, one based on technological development in the context of business history and one on knowledge exchange and networking. Throughout this examination it has been possible to explore what kind of changes and innovations were at first applied by this industry and then extended to other fields. Some examples would be motion control technology, AR (Augmented Reality) or VR (Virtual Reality), which were originally developed for the video game industry and eventually were used in design, architecture or in the medical field. The main companies under study are Nintendo and Sony, since they were both able to survive and thrive in the unstable and competitive economic environment that surrounded them. After reading this thesis, the reader will understand how they managed to stay relevant thanks to a constant drive towards innovation, itself fuelled by a strong competition going on between them.