Architectural Convergence and Platform Evolution: Empirical Test of Complementor Moves in Videogames

Abstract

While it is widely known that the success of platforms requires consistent support from complementors, scant attention has been paid to understand the moves of complementors in dynamic settings. In this paper, we focus on platform evolution from the sixth to the seventh generation of videogames and studied the strategic moves of third-party developers that supported personal computer and videogame consoles during a period of architectural convergence. We theorize how platform attachment capability of third-party developers (complementors to platforms) influence developers’ strategic choice. We analyze their choices through two strategic moves— porting (launching an existing game on another platform) versus augmentation (launching a new game on a platform) using data on 316 developers over a nine-year period. We find that complementors that are more embedded in single platform technologies are unable to leverage their existing knowledge in new platform settings and hence, are less likely to engage in porting moves but support existing platforms through augmentation. Complementors are also more likely to port titles to platforms that were architecturally similar to their previously supported platforms. Architectural convergence across sixth and seventh generations of videogames affords even previously embedded developers an opportunity to migrate and support disparate platforms. The results underscore the importance of framing how platform providers and complementors coevolve their actions to respond to platform evolution and architectural convergence from a dyadic and dynamic perspective.