Save Point: Reporting from a video game industry in transition, 2003—2011

Nearly 50 years after the launch of Pong created the video game industry as we know it, it’s fair to say the medium is approaching maturity in its middle age. Culturally, commercially, artistically, and technologically video games have never been more relevant, vibrant, or widely recognized as a major pastime and a unique form of expression. Getting to that point, though, meant video games had to go through their own awkward adolescence. This book covers some of the changes that rocked the game industry between 2003 and 2011. That time was a sometimes-uncomfortable transition period, where the industry did its best to grow up with the young audience that had grown up with games as their entertainment of choice through the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s. Many gaming trends that are still apparent today found their roots in this period, when technological, cultural, and business forces pushed the industry to change faster than ever before. The pieces collected in this book analyze how games were learning from their past and influencing the future, report on some of gaming’s growing and myriad sub-communities, and examine how the business of selling and marketing games was evolving alongside the explosive growth of the Internet.