In 2010 the video game industry made $10.3 billion, the vast majority of which (about 99%) was in the purchase of console video games, according to the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). By all accounts the industry continues to grow as gaming finds new platforms in mobile technology and continues to find broader audiences. However, much of the market is dominated by a few multinational companies; Nintendo (Wii), Microsoft (Xbox360), and Sony (Playstation2). In addition, a few publishing companies reign supreme in the console world; namely Activision and Electronic Arts (EA). The result of these oligopolies forming are that gamers have fewer choices, a standardized culture, and a decline in trust within the gamer community.

     In a recent article on Kotaku.com, SuperFLI writes about console gaming, "today's industry [is] filled with a lot of controversy," and "in today's gaming market, there are fewer gaming genres available than their used to be." He attributes both of these modern elements to the "commercial super success" of the media of console gaming between the last generation of consoles (Playstation, Xbox, Nintendo 64) and the present generation (Playstation2, Xbox360, Nintendo Wii). I would go further than that. It's true that figures have exponentially increased in both sales, development, and size of the market since the previous generation of consoles, but the leap was almost as significant from two generations ago to the last generation. In other words, gaming has been slowly building momentum into the multi-billion dollar industry that it is today, and as with any other cultural awakening, the more people that buy-in, the more that will continue to buy-in.

     In any industry that begins to see a dramatic increase in market size, there will inevitably be a kind of "land-grab" for market share: similar to what's happening in the mobile technology world right now. However, an easier to illustrate example would be the computer industry of the 1990's. IT boomed through the 90's, and it got to the point where there were a few mega-companies that essentially controlled a massive piece of the computer industry. In fact, Microsoft was even broken up because it had essentially engineered itself a monopoly on PC software and hardware, violating anti-trust laws. My point is this, if there's marketshare to gain in any industry, the big boys will do what they need to do to shut out small companies; whether that's buying up those companies or strangling their sales into obscurity and usually bankruptcy. What you're left with is a few companies that control the vast majority of the industry, dictating everything from price, to marketing, to the actual content of the product. In the case of the massively growing video game industry, we have the big three consoles with the big-two publishers, and working in service of profit over innovation and integrity.

     Case in point, one of the largest video-game publishing rivalries right now is between EA and Activision; both of whom have perpetuated some pretty shady practices in the service of higher profits; such as game subscription fees. (In order to play the game you need to subscribe to a service, after the initial purchase.) These companies say that it's the result of a glut in the used-game market, for which they see no money on resales. Somehow, however, the auto industry, the film industry, the music industry and many others have found a way around this. The problem is when you have gigantic, rigidly integrated companies that dominate the video game sector, they aren't so interested in changing their business model as they are in controlled the market. You saw this most recently with the advent of online music sharing and major music labels (even bands like Metallica) pissed off because they felt they were getting screwed by college kids on Limewire and Napster.

     The other things is that when companies, publishers, and developers figure out what types of games are in style they inevitably begin to release massive quantities of those types of games and forsake, or at least minimize, others. It creates a homogenized market, saturated in FPS, racing and sports. When was the last time you saw a really good side-scroller that wasn't relegated to some side-venue like Xbox Arcade? One thing that I will compliment the gaming community on is that they have been incredibly active in the development o their content, which increases innovation over what the big three would otherwise be turning out. However, it's also an industry in transition, and who's to say that as the big companies continue to eat up competition and consolidate their place in the market that gamer innovation won't erode over time?

     Finally, there's a degradation of integrity and business ethic as the companies get bigger and the market gets more homogenized. One of the most telling, again, is the rivalry between EA and Activision, both of whom have taken over the FPS genre with Battlefield and Call of Duty, respectively. In a lawsuit last year, EA allegedly wooed several of the high-ranking developers from the studio Infinity Ward away from Activision to develop Medal of Honor, an FPS that attempted to merge (but ultimately compartmentalized) the CoD with the Battlefield engines and game-types. Activision sued unsuccessfully. Even at E3, the two publishers booths, which used to be across the aisle from one another, would often turn up the volume of their presentations to drown out the other until it was so loud that no one could understand anything that was going on. Finally, with the introduction of subscription fees in compensating for lost resale profits, these companies have shown themselves to be just as inflexible and unethical as their production counterparts; Microsoft who has a history of marginalizing competition through any means possible, Sony whose roughshod network compromised 77 million users in April, and Nintendo (not much to say there, they seem to be doing a good job. Correct me if I'm wrong).

     As technology continues to leapfrog and gaming continues to gain popular appeal the industry will keep growing and we can expect more of the same from these big companies. However, what I think may prevent the video game industry from going the way of others that have become dominated by a small number of big corporate businesses is its consumer community. The gaming community has been proven to be very resistant to the kind of profiteering and corporate culture that dominates many of the others. Hopefully it will be enough to guide the kind of games, business practices, and culture that emerge from the future of gaming.