Chris J Young
Biographic Data
| ID | 4267272 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Chris J Young |
| GIVEN NAMES | Chris J |
| FAMILY NAME | Young |
| SIGNATURE | YOUNG C J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Toronto |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9424-6922 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 9 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 7 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 9 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Global Localities of Game Production
Accounts of digital game production are increasingly at the forefront of how we document and theorize conditions and transformations of how cultural media are produced, regulated, distributed, marketed, and consumed. These accounts have typically examined games as a global industry that coexists with and contributes to the formation of national industries, including publisher and studio formations, geopolitics, tax breaks and credits, regional re…
The Engine Is the Message: Videogame Infrastructure and the Future of Digital Platforms
On January 18, Microsoft revealed its $68.7 billion deal to acquire videogame publisher Activision Blizzard. The acquisition was pitched as an investment towards “metaverse platforms” that gaming would play a key role in developing. Journalists speculated about the increasing consolidation of the videogame industry and whether blockbuster franchises would be locked into Microsoft’s platforms and subscription services. Commentary on the metaverse …
Desirable work: Creative autonomy and the everyday turn in game production
Based on an ethnography of gamemaking in the Toronto game development scene, I introduce the concept of the everyday gamemaker to reveal how the everyday turn of game production work has transformed the identities of gameworkers. Whereas, previous research has documented the extensive self-exploitation and willingness of creative workers to accept difficult and precarious working conditions, I uncover how everyday gamemakers "make-do" with these …
Scene Tracing: The Replication and Transformation of Global Industry, Movements, and Genres in Local Game Production
The notion of scenes has helped frame how particular clusters of cultural activities, practices, and "happenings" simultaneously replicate and transform global practices in specific localities. The study of scenes has aided us in examinations of how geographic and virtual localities create and shape global industries, movements, and genres. In this article, I focus on the Toronto game production scene to examine how it replicates and transforms t…
"Bringing Your Vision to Life": Production Platforms and Industry Unity
In this paper, we introduce the notion of production platforms by exploring the political economy of the real-time animation platform Unity by Unity Technologies. Contributing to the debate on the ‘platformization of cultural production’ by examining the penetration of Unity’s economic, infrastructural, and governance extensions beyond its platform boundaries, we argue Unity has become the de facto default for the development of apps thereby impa…
App Imperialism: The Political Economy of the Canadian App Store
In this paper, we introduce the notion of app imperialism by exploring the political economy of the Canadian iOS App Store. Building on Dal Yong Jin's concept of "platform imperialism", we argue that US companies dominate global app stores through the systematic acquisition of capital resources. App imperialism marks the outsized economic footprint and influence of US companies in national app stores. Using a longitudinal financial dataset, we qu…
Lost in the App Store: The State of the Canadian Game App Economy
This commentary discusses the political economy of apps. The authors found that Canadian-made game apps are notably absent in the Canadian App Store. This should be both worrying and surprising, as Canada has a relatively sizable game industry. While policy conversations on digital transformation focus on emerging technology, the authors point toward the power and politics of digital platforms as one of the key issues preventing growth in the Can…
Contested Formations of Digital Game Labor
This article introduces a special issue critically investigating contemporary formations of digital game labor, with a focus on the political-economic forces, social inequalities, and technological dynamics mutually shaping these formations. Accounts of game industry practices have been at the forefront of efforts within media studies to document and theorize conditions and transformations of labor under digital capitalism. The study of digital g…
Munich '72: Selling the Games to Foreign Audiences and at Home
After the terrorist attack on the Israeli team, the 1972 Munich Olympics could be considered a PR disaster for the Federal Republic of Germany. In the years before the Games, however, the organizers orchestrated a finely tuned campaign, which used limited resources to maximum effect. The major message was obvious: the Germany of 1972 was to be portrayed as utterly different from that of 1936 and indeed the whole of the Nazi dictatorship. But the …
Contested Formations of Digital Game Labor
This article introduces a special issue critically investigating contemporary formations of digital game labor, with a focus on the political-economic forces, social inequalities, and technological dynamics mutually shaping these formations. Accounts of game industry practices have been at the forefront of efforts within media studies to document and theorize conditions and transformations of labor under digital capitalism. The study of digital g…
Desirable work: Creative autonomy and the everyday turn in game production
Based on an ethnography of gamemaking in the Toronto game development scene, I introduce the concept of the everyday gamemaker to reveal how the everyday turn of game production work has transformed the identities of gameworkers. Whereas, previous research has documented the extensive self-exploitation and willingness of creative workers to accept difficult and precarious working conditions, I uncover how everyday gamemakers "make-do" with these …
Munich '72: Selling the Games to Foreign Audiences and at Home
After the terrorist attack on the Israeli team, the 1972 Munich Olympics could be considered a PR disaster for the Federal Republic of Germany. In the years before the Games, however, the organizers orchestrated a finely tuned campaign, which used limited resources to maximum effect. The major message was obvious: the Germany of 1972 was to be portrayed as utterly different from that of 1936 and indeed the whole of the Nazi dictatorship. But the …
Lost in the App Store: The State of the Canadian Game App Economy
This commentary discusses the political economy of apps. The authors found that Canadian-made game apps are notably absent in the Canadian App Store. This should be both worrying and surprising, as Canada has a relatively sizable game industry. While policy conversations on digital transformation focus on emerging technology, the authors point toward the power and politics of digital platforms as one of the key issues preventing growth in the Can…
Contested Formations of Digital Game Labor
This article introduces a special issue critically investigating contemporary formations of digital game labor, with a focus on the political-economic forces, social inequalities, and technological dynamics mutually shaping these formations. Accounts of game industry practices have been at the forefront of efforts within media studies to document and theorize conditions and transformations of labor under digital capitalism. The study of digital g…
"Bringing Your Vision to Life": Production Platforms and Industry Unity
In this paper, we introduce the notion of production platforms by exploring the political economy of the real-time animation platform Unity by Unity Technologies. Contributing to the debate on the ‘platformization of cultural production’ by examining the penetration of Unity’s economic, infrastructural, and governance extensions beyond its platform boundaries, we argue Unity has become the de facto default for the development of apps thereby impa…
App Imperialism: The Political Economy of the Canadian App Store
In this paper, we introduce the notion of app imperialism by exploring the political economy of the Canadian iOS App Store. Building on Dal Yong Jin's concept of "platform imperialism", we argue that US companies dominate global app stores through the systematic acquisition of capital resources. App imperialism marks the outsized economic footprint and influence of US companies in national app stores. Using a longitudinal financial dataset, we qu…
Scene Tracing: The Replication and Transformation of Global Industry, Movements, and Genres in Local Game Production
The notion of scenes has helped frame how particular clusters of cultural activities, practices, and "happenings" simultaneously replicate and transform global practices in specific localities. The study of scenes has aided us in examinations of how geographic and virtual localities create and shape global industries, movements, and genres. In this article, I focus on the Toronto game production scene to examine how it replicates and transforms t…
The Engine Is the Message: Videogame Infrastructure and the Future of Digital Platforms
On January 18, Microsoft revealed its $68.7 billion deal to acquire videogame publisher Activision Blizzard. The acquisition was pitched as an investment towards “metaverse platforms” that gaming would play a key role in developing. Journalists speculated about the increasing consolidation of the videogame industry and whether blockbuster franchises would be locked into Microsoft’s platforms and subscription services. Commentary on the metaverse …
Desirable work: Creative autonomy and the everyday turn in game production
Based on an ethnography of gamemaking in the Toronto game development scene, I introduce the concept of the everyday gamemaker to reveal how the everyday turn of game production work has transformed the identities of gameworkers. Whereas, previous research has documented the extensive self-exploitation and willingness of creative workers to accept difficult and precarious working conditions, I uncover how everyday gamemakers "make-do" with these …
Global Localities of Game Production
Accounts of digital game production are increasingly at the forefront of how we document and theorize conditions and transformations of how cultural media are produced, regulated, distributed, marketed, and consumed. These accounts have typically examined games as a global industry that coexists with and contributes to the formation of national industries, including publisher and studio formations, geopolitics, tax breaks and credits, regional re…
Computer Science (7 works) · Digital Games and Media (7 works) · Political science (7 works) · Economics (6 works) · Business (5 works) · Politics (5 works) · Sociology (5 works) · Cultural Industries and Urban Development (4 works) · Media studies (4 works) · Art (3 works)