Jeux vidéo : l'industrie culturelle du XXIe siècle ?

At the turn-of-the-century, video games emerged as a major sector alongside traditional culture industries such as publishing, recorded music, cinema or television. Drawing on anthropological resources and propelled by a wave of technological innovation, this pastime was revived in just a few decades, adapting to new handheld devices, mobile phones, and lounge consoles. Video games are now omnipresent.

Yet the economy of this industry has not yet been well explored and remains largely unknown. This volume therefore provides an overall view of the sector. It allows us to understand how, and by which actors, video games are designed, produced, and distributed, and what the specific stakes of this globalised sector are (network effects, internet, substantial fixed costs, rapid renewal of devices, impact of communities, globalisation, etc.). It also explores the way in which video games spread throughout different continents. By reinventing all the links in the chains of culture industries – the creation process, production, distribution and monetisation – and developing on a global scale, the video game industry has become the reflection of the technical, industrial, and economic transformations of the digital revolution. It also presents a possible new horizon for culture industries.

Could video games, due to their global and omnipresent nature, become the culture industry of the 21st century?