Prolonging the Magic: The political economy of the 7th generation console game

Abstract

This paper draws on critical political economic theory to discuss the implications of the dominant mode of production and circulation of “Triple-A” or blockbuster console games. It is argued that the seventh generation Triple-A game is a highly standardized cultural commodity giving way to two distinctive "formatting strategies", which taken together, draw attention to the console game’s hybrid nature; being a physical, disc-based artefact that is digitally extended via DLC (downloadable content). This hybridity invites questions as to the commodity form's techno-economic particularities vis-à-vis publishing strategies of non-software based cultural commodities, such as movies and TV series. The popular Call of Duty series of first person shooters serves as case study to demonstrate how game publisher Activision Blizzard not only formalized and institutionalized the annualization of the serialization strategy, the publisher also upped the ante in terms of post-launch content, theorized as "branched serialization". The Call of Duty series demonstrates that the rules of play for Triple-A games are as much governed by a game's internal ludic properties as they are structured and alternated by a distinctive and very explicit market logic. In this sense, the Triple-A game never seems truly finished; it is marketed by game publishers and positioned by critics as an unfinished commodity.

5. The Circulation Game: Shifting Production Logics and Circulation Moments in the Digital Games Industry

“…They required a home console, a personal computer or a handheld device to play. By the mid 2000s the latest home and handheld console devices came with built in network capabilities and while initially these connections were used for downloading game updates, quickly more interactive possibilities emerged (Nieborg 2014). Physical distribution of games still exists, but digital distribution revenues now supersede physical revenues in many markets.…”

“…Doom was one of the first games to embrace player modifications and some of the earliest modders went on to work in the games industry, turning their modding knowledge into jobs. Modding may occur at the level of the hardware, the software, the code, the interface, the graphics and game companies may exert considerable control over the creations of modders, through the tools they make available and restrictions in legal contracts (Nieborg andvan der Graaf 2008, Kerr 2011). While some game companies explicitly rule out player monetisation of their modifications, other companies provide ways for game players to monetise their work.…”

A Precarious Game

“…This book draws decidedly on critical po liti cal economy, feminist theory, and autonomist Marxism. Specifically, this book builds on critical game studies (Dyer-Witheford and de Peuter 2009;Kerr 2017;Mejia 2012;Nakamura 2009;Nieborg 2014;Woodcock 2019), the political-economic insights derived from Nicole Cohen's (2016) work on journalism, feminist theories of labor (Federici 2012;Jarrett 2016;Pateman 1988), digital labor studies (Andrejevic 2013;Burston, Dyer-Witheford, and Hearn 2010;Fuchs 2014;Noble 2018;Roberts 2019;Scholz 2013), critical studies of media and creative work (Banks 2007;Duffy 2017;Hesmondhalgh and Baker 2011;Gregg 2011;Mayer 2011;Ross 2003;Stahl 2012), and philosophical explorations on work, universal basic income, and the postwork society (Chamberlain 2018;Lordon 2014;Read 2003;Weeks 2011).…”

“…What defines this commodity form then? Not completely unrelated to this economic model, games are unfinished commodities, and they have an afterlife (Nieborg 2011). Games' afterlives derive from the production of paid downloadable content, free downloadable content to reward loyal customers, and franchising based on the blockbuster model.…”

“…Similar expectations regarding technology and upgrade culture do not exist, at least in the same intensity, in book or magazine publishing. Magazines and books are finished commodities with a relatively fixed life, whereas games have a modular design structure not in de pen dent from the ideology of upgrade and pro gress and perpetual innovation dynamics (Nieborg 2011). Although this potentially empowers and reskills workers as they learn how to work with new technologies, they can also become alienated because cycles of permanent upgrades deliver nothing but more work.…”