Independent Game
Developers and Their Expectations Towards Recommender Systems
(pp301-318)
Marta Kholodylo and Christine Strauss
doi:
https://doi.org/10.26421/JDI1.3-1
Abstracts:
Electronic recommender systems and digital distribution
as such have transformed many industries. Digital games is one of those
industries where the transformation is particularly evident, as more and
more games are appearing on the market, and most of the titles are
published by independent game developers. Due to electronic recommender
systems developers can now self-publish their content without the
mediation of third parties and additional costs for their services. This
change has significantly decreased the costs of game production,
distribution, and marketing, allowing more studios to engage in
releasing their games on their own. However, it is unclear how the
developers themselves perceive the effect of electronic recommender
systems of their business models. This paper presents a qualitative
study on the impact of electronic recommender systems in context of
independent game development. Based on semi-structured expert interviews
with active game developers who have been engaged in promoting their
games through electronic recommender systems, our study provides
insights on how independent game developers perceive those systems as
part of their value chain and their business model. The results of the
study concern to (i) independent game developers to establish,
adapt, review, or improve their business model, and (ii)
providers and developers of electronic recommender systems as indication
of needs and requirements as well as expectations of their potential
content creators.
Key words:
Electronic recommender systems, Independent game developers, Digital
games, Video games