Techno-dependencies in video games production: A Chilean case study

Abstract

In recent years video games have become one of the major entertainment industries in the world, attracting millions of players and thousands of companies worldwide to virtual and non-virtual platforms. Middle-income countries such as Chile look at video games and other service sectors as viable industries to promote in the context of their economies, which currently rely on high specialisation in the extraction of natural resources and low value-added manufacturing products. However, a question must be asked: is the video games sector in Chile in danger of repeating similar patterns of dependency showed by those extractive-based industries? The following article explores this issue, deploying a Latin American dependency theory perspective combined with new insights from cognitive capitalism literature. Two main contributions derive from the analysis. First, the use of dependency theory and related literature is still valuable when it comes to understanding the conditions of technological dependency in highly-innovative sectors. Secondly, the analysis of video games sector development in Chile in itself contributes to digital games research and economic geography, as peripheral territories such as Chile are frequently ignored in the ongoing critical and policy discourse of creative/digital industries. Deploying semi-structured interviews with Chilean game developers and governmental agencies, the article evidence forms of dependency on the use of non-proprietary technological tools (game engines and software development kits – SDKs) and the protection of intellectual property (IP) in the centre (publishing schemes).