Multi-scalar legitimation of a contested industry: A case study of the Hamburg video games industry

Abstract

While economic geography has provided great insights in regional industrial development, knowledge is limited concerning how a contested local industry can be legitimized and who contributes to such legitimation process. The aim of this paper is to investigate the legitimation trajectory of a contested creative industry in Hamburg—the video games industry. The central argument is that the controversies of the focal industry mainly come from four aspects—the product ontologies, the boundary beliefs, the industry recipes, and the reputational rankings. These dimensions combined have led to dynamic societal evaluations of the industry over time. Moreover, the main stigmata related to the aforementioned dimensions may lie at different spatial scales, and thus require the differentiated legitimation efforts of actors at different levels. Overall, it is argued that in normalizing a contested industry in a region, the legitimation process is not merely a local phenomenon, but global referencing and national legitimation are crucial, as well.