Get in the Game

Chapter 5Getting in the Game (without Changing It): Gaming Integration Opportunities for Businesses

Of the many goals we have set forth, the most basic one is to both increase understanding and learn about opportunities within gaming and esports. With nearly three chapters on understanding, leading to one on integration, it may feel as if the balance has been someone lopsided. This is indeed the case, and deliberately so.

The lead‐up was not only meant as a means to increase your understanding around gaming as an ecosystem more generally (though this is important!), but also provide the requisite foundation to address opportunities in gaming in a way that is realistic, informed, and with expectations managed. If the ask was to emblazon the hottest AAA game with a brand logo, I'm sorry to note that you will be disappointed. However, the intensive degree of focus that gaming evokes from players means that something a bit more nuanced can go a long way (and there is still ample room to go splashier; it's just going to take more work than you might expect).

This is largely due to the fact that, as demonstrated in the chapters leading up to this point, gaming is a form of media the evokes a different form of attention and participation from its audience, has typically been at the crest of technological innovation and used as a mechanism to understand these technologies, and has developed an increasingly sophisticated and diversified array of strategies to draw in revenue based upon ...