The Digital Games Industry and its Direct and Indirect Impact on the Economy. Case study: Supercell and Finland.
Santasärkkä, Sebastian (2017)
Metropolia Ammattikorkeakoulu
2017
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201705199024
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201705199024
Tiivistelmä
The games industry was established in the 1970s when Atari introduced arcade video games. The mobile gaming segment was born in 2007 after Apple released the first iPhone. Even though the digital games industry is relatively new, it has established a permanent role in the entertainment industry, growing faster than the TV, music, movies, and book publishing business. The global games market was valued 99,6 billion US dollars in 2016 and it is projected to continue growing in the future, driven by technological advancements and a growth in overall gaming audiences.
Newzoo, the leading market research company covering the global games market has calculated the size of the gaming industry by summing up consumer revenues by games companies globally. However, this approach underestimates the industry’s total contribution to the world economy. The purchase of video games triggers the purchase of other complementary products such as processors, content, devices, and broadband internet access. Although the sales of complementary products are an example of direct contribution to the economy, measuring the total turnover has proven to be challenging and there-fore is not included in the industry’s size. In addition, the games industry influences the economy indirectly since technological and service innovations developed for entertainment games are spilling over into other sectors and non-leisure applications. In the context of this thesis, spill-over is referred to as voluntary and involuntary exchange of useful technological information, new concepts, ideas, and different types of capital. The gaming industry players have strong innovation capabilities, and they act as catalysts for innovation and knowledge-based growth in various other industries, contributing to economic growth across the economy indirectly. Knowledge spillover is a driving force of economic growth, yet the industry size calculation does not capture the benefits. Therefore, it can be estimated that the industry’s total contribution is much higher than what Newzoo reports.
Finland stands out in the global games market with the mobile games maker Supercell, which is valued over 10 billion dollars and many other globally known game makers, such as Rovio with their Angry Birds. Although Supercell is a small company employing roughly 180 people, it plays a major role in the Finnish economy.
Newzoo, the leading market research company covering the global games market has calculated the size of the gaming industry by summing up consumer revenues by games companies globally. However, this approach underestimates the industry’s total contribution to the world economy. The purchase of video games triggers the purchase of other complementary products such as processors, content, devices, and broadband internet access. Although the sales of complementary products are an example of direct contribution to the economy, measuring the total turnover has proven to be challenging and there-fore is not included in the industry’s size. In addition, the games industry influences the economy indirectly since technological and service innovations developed for entertainment games are spilling over into other sectors and non-leisure applications. In the context of this thesis, spill-over is referred to as voluntary and involuntary exchange of useful technological information, new concepts, ideas, and different types of capital. The gaming industry players have strong innovation capabilities, and they act as catalysts for innovation and knowledge-based growth in various other industries, contributing to economic growth across the economy indirectly. Knowledge spillover is a driving force of economic growth, yet the industry size calculation does not capture the benefits. Therefore, it can be estimated that the industry’s total contribution is much higher than what Newzoo reports.
Finland stands out in the global games market with the mobile games maker Supercell, which is valued over 10 billion dollars and many other globally known game makers, such as Rovio with their Angry Birds. Although Supercell is a small company employing roughly 180 people, it plays a major role in the Finnish economy.