Game Industry Research Articles

The Role of Saudi Arabia’s Intellectual Property (IP) Law in Governing the Modern Video Game Landscape

Saudi Arabia’s billion-dollar gaming industry is experiencing a rapid transformation marked by exponential growth and substantial investment. The Kingdom is the 19th biggest gaming market worldwide, with an investment of $6.4 billion to support the industry’s development. The exponential growth and substantial investment in the Kingdom’s gaming industry emphasize the significance of understanding the role of its Intellectual Property law, particularly copyright, in administering this dynamic landscape. Understanding this role will help to demonstrate the Kingdom’s dedication to encouraging the growth and development of the video game industry. As part of its 2030 Vision, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has entered the gaming sector by establishing Savvy Gaming Group, which invested $1.05 billion to acquire FACEIT and ESL, forming the ESL FACEIT Group. This article examines the intersection of video games and Intellectual Property law, focusing on copyright to explore how the Kingdom’s current copyright framework accommodates the distinctive elements of the video gaming industry and addresses the legal ambiguities that potentially undermine the industry’s copyright protection and overall growth and development. The article analyses the levels of existing copyright protection and legal ambiguities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Consequently, this article proposes a copyright system tailored to the video gaming industry to address the Kingdom’s specific challenges in this domain. Conclusively, it contends that existing copyright laws do not adequately accommodate Saudi Arabia’s dynamic video gaming industry. It advocates for discussions on a new regime that caters to the industry’s unique aspects and safeguards the interests of publishers and creators in the emerging gaming sector.

Development of the Video Game Industry in China in the Late 20th Century

Development of the Video Game Industry in China in the Late 20th Century

AI applications in video games and future expectations

In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) techniques have been extensively applied in various industries, including the gaming industry. The integration of different AI models into games has brought about a new era of game development, optimization, and overall gaming experience. This paper presents an overview of several AI algorithms that have been utilized in games, discussing their applications and providing predictions for the future of AI in gaming. It outlines how these algorithms have been incorporated into games to improve various aspects of gameplay. The application part of the paper focuses on game content optimization, specifically from the perspective of enhancing player experience. It examines areas such as player interaction and in-game elements, explaining how AI algorithms have been used to optimize these aspects and create a more immersive gaming experience. Furthermore, the future expectations section revolves around further advancements in optimizing the gaming experience and incorporating AI into the game design and development stages. It also discusses potential improvements in hardware that can better support AI integration in games. Finally, the article concludes with a summary and expectations for the future development of AI in gaming, highlighting the potential benefits and advancements that can be achieved through the continued use of AI algorithms.

F2P-модель монетизации как маркетинговый инструмент влияния на потребительское поведение мобильных геймеров

This study is aimed to analyze, systematize and improve the knowledge about the specifics of microtransactions in the mobile games industry. The study also explores the consumer behavior of players in the context of microtransactions and provides relevant information on the influence of microtransactions on the growing popularity of free-to-play monetization model. Being one of the most promising industries, mobile gamification is becoming more and more dy-namic over time, leveraging innovative marketing strategies for its promotion. The opportunity to earn money in a fast-growing market motivates developers to move away from simple monetization models. Today, the most popular is the free-to-play model, which provides the game for free and leaves the choice to the user for in-game purchases. Despite the risks associated with this model, it frequently becomes the most profitable for businesses. The article describes ap-proaches to the definition of microtransactions, explores the monetization models in which microtransactions are used most often. It also classified microtransactions based on average check and segmented users based on the size of monthly spending. The article also describes the main methods of stimulating users to make microtransactions in the context of free-to-play monetization model.

Application of cyberspace security in video games industry

While video games are becoming an increasingly popular worldwide industry, there is a growing number of cheaters who exploit the flaws and weaknesses of games to gain advantages or earn money. This initiates a conflict between the 'black hat' and 'white hat' players. This article provides a comprehensive classification of cheats and anti-cheats in video games, accompanied by vivid illustrative scenarios. In terms of cheat classification, there are two main categories: Generic cheats, and those of special relevance to online games. Each sub-category will be accompanied by examples or explanations of the current situations. In the section on anti-cheating measures, a table will be provided to illustrate general methods to counter common cheats. This section also includes some novel and creative anti-cheat methods that utilize different technologies to address the issues. This paper also discusses the investigation of applying artificial intelligence (AI) to combat malfeasance by some researchers. Finally, the conclusion provides a general summary of the current anti-cheat situation and presents some divergent ideas for addressing cheating.

Making motion matching stable and fast with Lipschitz-continuous neural networks and Sparse Mixture of Experts

Motion matching has become a widely adopted technique for generating high-quality interactive animation systems in video games. However, its current implementations suffer from significant computational and memory resource overheads, limiting its scalability in the context of modern video game performance profiles.Our method significantly reduces the computational complexity of approaches to motion synthesis, such as “Learned Motion Matching”, while simultaneously improving the compactness of the data that can be stored and the robustness of pose output. As a result, our method enables the efficient execution of motion matching that significantly outperforms other implementations, by 8.5× times in CPU execution cost and at 80% of the memory requirements of “Learned Motion Matching”, on contemporary video game hardware, thereby enhancing its practical applicability and scalability in the gaming industry and unlocking the ability to apply on large numbers of animated in-game characters.In this paper, we expand upon our published paper “Learning Robust and Scalable Motion with Lipschitz Continuity and Sparse Mixture of Experts”, where we successfully proposed a novel method for learning motion matching that combines a Sparse Mixture of Experts model architecture and a Lipschitz-continuous latent space for representation of poses. We present further details on our method, with extensions to our approach to expert utilization within our neural networks.

A Fuzzy AHP Approach to Evaluating the Fuzzy Weight of Mobile Game Application Software Quality Factors: Usability Expectations for Novice Users

Mobile games have become a popular way to pass the time, and an increasing number of new and inexperienced users are searching for enjoyable and simple-to-learn experiences. It is essential to ensure that the software of these mobile games is intuitive and of high quality in order to keep users satisfied and coming back. However, it is difficult to assess the subjective and frequently nebulous expectations of first-time users. In between the development of mobile game applications, stakeholders in the mobile game industry are continually exploring applications whose quality is measured. The deployment of this effort will be facilitated by the quantification of qualitative aspects that depend on software quality factors. Thus, it is crucial to choose the proper evaluation strategy. The evaluation is based on two parameters: fuzzy rate and fuzzy weight. The evaluation of a five-point fuzzy rating system is based on surveys or questionnaires, and it involves straightforward inputs. Fuzzy weight refers to the relative significance of software quality aspects, and it is determined by stakeholders responsible to ensure appropriate quality of mobile application, ensuring that the crisp sum is equal to one. This may be achieved when stakeholders agree on the relative significance or pairwise comparison of software quality factors and examine their relative value. This technique guarantees that the total assessment of quality converges in the correct direction. This paper presents a novel application of the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) that evaluates the appropriate fuzzy weight for software quality factors of mobile game applications, particularly for neophyte users. This will aid the mobile game application industry in formulating and evaluating fuzzy weights to reinforce the process that converts qualitative to quantitative aspects during mobile application development.

The effect of short game videos on consumers' willingness to purchase virtual items in games: A moderating effect based on game experience

With the popularity and development of new media, the short video industry has deeply influenced people's daily shopping behavior and entertainment activities. Similarly, with the development of Internet technology, the game industry is attracting more and more attention from game players and consumers. This study explores the impact of short game videos on gamers' willingness to purchase in-game virtual goods according to the SOR theoretical model and the moderating effect of external stimuli such as consumers' differences in game experience and perceived value on their willingness to buy game virtual products. Through a series of literature research and relevant data analysis and processing, this study confirms that some features of short game videos will not have a significant impact on consumers' purchase behavior, but most features will lead consumers to consume games. Features such as Validity and Serviceability, Interactivity, and Sociability are positively correlated with consumers' willingness on consumption, but Influenceability is not significantly correlated with consumers' willingness to buy. In addition, the game experience of consumers has a significant moderating effect, and the perceived value difference also has an important impact on their purchase behavior. The findings from this study can help the new media industry and the gaming industry to grasp the needs of young consumers, represented by university students, and to adjust their marketing strategies more effectively.

The Operation Logic of Constructing China's National Original IP to Empower the Peripheral Design of Game Brands: Based on the Case Investigation of Mihoyo

Game original IP, especially China's national original IP, has become a new momentum in the game industry, and with the attention of game companies to IP cultivation, the IP derivatives market has also developed accordingly. The construction of game brand's national original IP and the application of construction results are two important stages to realize the design of China's national original IP-empowered brand peripheral products, and the summary and analysis of a set of thinking models will intuitively show the operational logic of empowerment, which will help the original innovative dissemination of Chinese traditional culture through interactive media works such as games, and guide the smooth promotion of brand IP marketing. This paper uses a case study of Genshin Impact IP under Mihoyo brand, summarizes the thinking model according to the topic of this paper by progressively studying the IP construction logic and the application mode of IP empowerment peripheral products after construction, sorts out the IP architecture and the general theoretical logic of each stage of the task, summarizes the core "carrier + concept" of national original IP construction, and discusses in detail the thinking factors and methodologies of national original IP construction in the main work IP stage, derivative IP stage, and peripheral product service stage.

The Game Industry’s Cataclysmic Layoffs: Where Do We Go from Here?

The games industry has been seeing unparalleled mass layoffs since 2022. Cheap debt, the COVID-19 bubble, investor imprudence, and executive extravagance have produced an unsustainable boom and investment spree that has flowed into today’s disastrous bust. For workers in the games industry, collective organization is a difficult but necessary response to ensure a healthier and more resilient future for all.

PENGARUH FINANCIAL KNOWLEDGE, FINANCIAL ATTITUDE, DAN MENTAL ACCOUNTING TERHADAP SPENDING HABITS GAMERS DI SURABAYA

Online games are one of the entertainment activities highly favored by the Indonesian society. The level of consumption and spending in gaming is also continuously increasing in the gaming industry. Gamers in Indonesia themselves have a willingness of 45% to spend money while playing games. This research aims to determine the influence of financial knowledge, financial attitude, and mental accounting on the spending habits of gamers in Surabaya. The sampling was done purposively on gamers residing in Surabaya who play games for more than 7 hours per week. A total of 200 respondents in Surabaya participated in this study. Data were collected by distributing questionnaires online through Google Forms, which were disseminated to gamers and gaming communities in Surabaya via social media platforms such as Line and Instagram. The obtained data will be processed using SmartPLS 4 software. The results of the analysis in this study prove that financial knowledge, financial attitude, and mental accounting significantly influence the spending habits of gamers in Surabaya

Spiritual opium and the spiritual opium war: a cultural history of arcade games and console games in 1990s China

In the 1990s, in China, arcade and console games were called “spiritual opium.” Why were video games labeled spiritual drugs, specifically opium, as opposed to other types of drugs? How did the mainstream media gradually depict video games as spiritual opium? The term “spiritual opium” carries profound historical and political connotations and is skillfully employed by media entities to disparage video games, fostering adverse perceptions among the populace. This scholarly inquiry delves into the cultural history of arcade and console games during this era. Historical and cultural methods were used to meticulously trace the genesis and evolution of the “spiritual opium” metaphor in the 1990s, scrutinizing the process through which video games were ensnared by this pejorative label. In addition, the paper also elucidates the “spiritual opium war,” a series of government-led campaigns against arcade and console games, including investigations, crackdowns on arcades, and reminiscent of Mao-era mobilizations. By doing so, this research fills a critical gap in the historiography of Chinese gaming, thereby enriching studies of the regional game industry and contributing to a broader understanding of the global gaming landscape. This article also shows how postsocialist states such as China navigate the challenges posed by the influx of video games and their perceived political threats and provides a nuanced understanding of state–media dynamics and cultural policy in postsocialist contexts.

Analysis of the State-of-art Implementations for Artificial Intelligence in Gaming

As a matter of fact, Artificial Intelligence (AI) stands out as a crucial area of interest, seeing significant integration across diverse sectors. The gaming industry's evolution has further escalated the integration of AI, leading to an increased necessity for sophisticated game AI systems. These systems, crafted to emulate the cognitive actions and decision-making abilities of humans, enable the automation of game creation and dynamic game management. In order to give a better account of the application of AI in the game field, this study will introduce the following contents. First of all, this study will introduce what is AI, the second is to introduce the three kinds of application scenarios of AI in the game field; the third is to make a prediction on the future fusion of AI and the game industry. According to the analysis, the current features as well as limitations and prospect will be demonstrated at the same time. Overall, these results shed light on guiding further exploration of AI in gaming.

Digital Games Adopted by Adults—A Documental Approach through Meta-Analysis

The gaming industry has seen a considerable expansion thanks to the ever-increasing and widespread consumption of digital games in different contexts of use and across all age groups. We are witnessing a commercial boom and awakening the attention of researchers from different scientific areas to address an interdisciplinary topic. Digital games consumption has inspired some studies investigating the use and adoption of these games and, in this context, we ask: “how has the use and adoption of digital games by adults been studied?”. We conducted a documental study with a meta-analysis approach to answer these questions, considering the most relevant research papers published in the last fifteen years, according to a set of inclusion criteria. The planned objectives consider identifying the main dimensions in the studies about the use and adoption of digital games by adults and the findings of this study delineate several dimensions as prospective latent variables for inclusion in future studies within acceptance models for digital games. Furthermore, our research illuminates the socialization dimension, particularly when amalgamated with other conceptual dimensions. This nuanced understanding underscores the intricate interplay between various factors influencing the acceptance and adoption of digital gaming technologies.

SONY’S GAMING DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

This scientific article is devoted to the research and analysis of the development of the gaming industry at Sony. The study attempts an in-depth analysis of the multifaceted aspects of the development and evolution of the gaming business within this company, starting from its first steps in the gaming market, and up to the current situation in the entertainment industry.The article includes a historical overview of the development of Sony’s gaming department, from the release of the company’s first game console and the development of franchises, to the release of the latest game consoles and iconic games. The study also examines key strategic steps taken by the company in the gaming business, including an emphasis on exclusive content, partnerships and the promotion of online services.

The Success and Failure of “Legends of the Three Kingdoms” From the Perspective of Marketing

As people's entertainment methods are increasingly popular and rich, the board games industry is increasingly appreciated by customers. The “Legends of the Three Kingdoms”, which led the development of the industry, is now gradually declining, which is largely attributed to the mistake of the marketing strategy. This essay is based on the literature of the rules of operation of the board games and online games industry as well as the case analysis of “Legends of the Three Kingdoms”, using the 4P marketing theory to analyze the various periods of its development, and to clarify the effectiveness of these strategies and the impact on the competitiveness of brands. This essay finds that the success of the marketing strategy is mainly due to its focus on the needs of the player, and its failure is mainly due to the contradiction between the game concept and the game's reality. It can take measures to strengthen brand culture elements, focus on brand differentiation promotion, diversify marketing channels and continuously deepen copyright awareness to make marketing strategies sustainable development. The board games and online games industry should draw lessons from it, and the marketing strategy should be closely followed by the market trend and specific analysis in specific periods. Even if the company is in a good state of development, the importance of marketing strategy cannot be ignored.

The Impact of Neutral Gender Characters in Electronic Games on Adolescents Gender Cognition and Strategies for Improvement

This study aims to explore the influence of neutral gender characters in electronic games on adolescents gender cognition and proposes potential improvement strategies for the current situation. The research employs an interview-based approach to investigate the gender-related confusion encountered by adolescents during their developmental stages and examines the current status of neutral gender characters in the contemporary electronic game market, tracing their origins. As adolescents are in a stage of developing gender identity, the introduction of neutral gender characters in electronic games may contribute to fostering positive gender identity and exploration. Consequently, the goal of this study is to better understand the shaping role of electronic games on adolescents gender perceptions, promote the gaming industry toward more diverse and inclusive gender expressions, advance societal gender equality perspectives, stimulate adolescents creative expression, and cultivate a broader societal attitude of openness and respect towards diverse genders.

Prospects for the development of educational computer games in the context of the theory of the "state of flow" by M. Csikszentmihalyi

The subject of the study concerns one of the most significant problems of computer gamification of education – the question of criteria for the development and evaluation of educational computer games, including optimization of their game mechanics, game structure and forms of integration of players into their space, taking into account their specifics, goals and main educational purpose. The concept of "game flow", which originated in the gaming industry under the influence of the theory of the "state of flow" by M. Csikszentmihalyi, represents an original interpretation of the criteria of internal motivation of human activity and, as the goal of game design, assumes the achievement of the highest immersiveness of the game and the creation of space for the construction of meanings. The concept of game flow is widely used in modern trends in the development of educational games: the use of innovative game mechanics that complement and enrich the traditional and most common model of PBL gamification and allow achieving the greatest human involvement in the process of playing and learning is gaining great promise in them. The article uses a comprehensive methodological approach, including a descriptive method applied to various concepts of learning gamification and motivation theories, as well as a comparative and hermeneutic analysis of research on the development of educational computer games. The scientific novelty of the research is due to the correlation of the concept of game flow and the theory of the state of flow by M. Csikszentmihalyi with the main tasks of educational games and trends in their development. The conclusions of the article state that the development of virtual, augmented and mixed reality technologies, 3D visualization, and the improvement of computer graphics open up new prospects for the use of computer games in education, including in the humanities. Despite the fact that the issue of determining the prospects for the development of computer learning games is solved in modern pedagogy by studying the mechanisms of formation of internal motivation and involvement in learning, the theory of the "state of flow" by M. Csikszentmihalyi is of great interest in this sense. Optimization of the game mechanics of modern educational computer games is aimed at personalization, creating a space of free choice for the player and involves individual selection of the level of difficulty of tasks. These and other characteristics of game design can significantly improve the effectiveness of training.

Can we engage players with extended reality in gaming applications? A Stimulus-Organism-Response framework

This study aims to present a theoretical model that would explain the factors influencing behavioural intention towards Extended Reality (XR) in gaming applications using Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) framework. The survey was conducted by distributing online questionnaire through social media platforms which garnered about 358 respondents as a part of purposive sampling. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used in analysing the data collected. The results confirm that perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, perceived risk, performance expectancy, attitude and perceived value are significant variables in investigating the behavioural intention towards XR in gaming applications. Apart from that, this paper has confirmed that technology anxiety has an insignificant effect in moderating the relationship between attitude and behavioural intention towards XR in gaming applications compared to past studies. The finding from this research would help gaming industry, esports community, and government policymakers to learn more about the factors affecting behavioural intention towards XR in gaming applications for the purpose of business, nation building and self-knowledge. This research contributes to the literature especially on factors affecting behavioural intention of people towards XR in gaming applications using the SOR framework.

NFTs in Smart Cities: Vision, Applications, and Challenges

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) have recently received widespread attention as their market has experienced massive growth since early 2021. NFTs are blockchain-based tokens used to represent ownership of digital and physical assets in a manner that is transparent, traceable, tamper-proof, secure, and trustworthy. Although NFTs have enabled new applications in the gaming and art industries, their full extent and potential are yet to be explored. In this paper, we outline the vision of using NFTs in smart cities. We describe the main components of NFTs and how smart city applications, such as smart governance, smart services, smart economy, smart industry, smart environment, and smart mobility and transportation, can benefit from them. In addition, we show how leveraging NFTs can add value to the metaverse. Finally, we discuss research challenges that hinderthe adoption of NFTs in smart cities