IT and the video game industry: tensions and mutual shaping
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Research article
IT and the video game industry: tensions and mutual shaping Jonathan P Allen1, Jeffrey Kim2 1
Masagung Graduate School of Management, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA Information School, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
2
Correspondence: JP Allen, Masagung Graduate School of Management, University of San Francisco, 2130 Fulton St., San Francisco, CA 94117, USA. Tel: þ 1 415 422 6570; Fax: þ 1 415 422 2502; E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract This paper examines the influence of information technology (IT) on a distinct but closely related industry, the video game industry. We conceptualize the effects of IT as a process of translating three related dimensions of a technological frame – technology performance, industry practices, and use vision – from one industry to another. Through historical examples, we argue that the impact of IT on the video game industry is shaped and limited by this translation process, particularly when tensions between the two industries lead to the development of new complementary or replacement technologies, practices, or visions. Although heavily dependent on IT, the video game industry has had to ignore, postpone, or substantially modify important IT software tools, processors, storage media, graphics, and networking technologies because of these industry contradictions. Journal of Information Technology (2005) 20, 234–244. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jit.2000048 Keywords: video game industry; PC industry; technological frames; industry tensions
Introduction ow does information technology (IT) change an industry? Can easily available information processing, storage, and transmission cause a significant change in how an industry performs its work? Does the influence of IT depend on the invention of complementary practices, standards, or technologies? How much strategic choice do firms in an industry have with regards to IT, and how do these choices affect industry evolution? These important questions about the role of IT in industry change are relatively unexplored in the information systems research literature, compared to questions of organizational change. In contrast, business historians (e.g., Chandler, 2001; Cortada, 2004), sociologists of technology (e.g., Bijker, 1995; Rosen, 2002), and economists studying technology strategy (e.g., Schilling, 2003; Shankar and Bayus, 2003) regularly work at the industry level when exploring the significance of IT-related change. In this paper, we investigate the influence of IT on a distinct but closely related industry, the video game industry. According to traditional innovation theory, a lack of knowledge or familiarity with a technology is a major barrier to adoption, and ultimately industry change (e.g., Allen, 2000; Cortada, 2004). This limitation does not apply to the video game industry, making this industry an
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important arena for studying the effects of IT at one end of a continuum from IT-
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