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Oligopoly- a state of limited competition, in which a market is shared by a small number of producers or sellers

Curran & Seaton

• The general trend within the media is towards greater concentration

• The media is controlled by an ever-shrinking number of companies that are largely driven by logic of profit and power

• This leads to risk-aversion

• Media concentration limits or inhibits variety, creativity and quality

• More socially diverse patterns of ownership help to create the conditions for more varied and adventurous media products

The industry

• Sony

• Microsoft

• Valve

• EA

• Tencent

• Nintendo

• Epic Games

Ubisoft

• French company

• Vertical integrated, owning both development studios and publishing capabilities;

  Developers: the people and companies who conceive, design and program games. Used to be mainly independent

  Publishers: right-holders for the game, responsible for marketing and manufacturing process, if there’s a physical product. The section is becoming concentrated with fewer and fewer companies

  Distributors: traditionally, responsible for the physical storage and delivery of the product.

  Retailers: institutions selling products to customers

• Horizontally integrated, owning a variety of in-house studios. It is involved in the production of different media forms, it is also diversifying and ensures financial security.

The multi-media franchise now consists of:

• 13 games

• 1 film

• 1 (forthcoming) series (for Netflix)

• 17+ books (some of which are straight novelisations of the games)