Abstract
This chapter contributes to the discussions about spaces of digital work by exploring subcontracting and outsourcing work in digital games industries in Poland and Estonia. The chapter’s aim is twofold: First, it contributes to the growing body of research about national and regional digital games production and, specifically, digital games production in the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region. Second, this chapter focuses on work arrangements which are often excluded from national statistics and reports about the digital games industry workforce. Drawing on data from two projects about national game industries, this contribution demonstrates the expansion, complexity and extensiveness of work in the digital games industry, which spans national, regional and international boundaries.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bobrowski, M., Rodzińska-Szary, P., Krampus-Sepielak, A., Śliwiński, M., Rudnicki, S. (2017). Kondycja Polskiej Branży Gier. Raport 2017. Resource document. Krakowski Park Technologiczny. https://www.cdprojekt.com/pl/wp-content/uploads-pl/2016/03/kondycja-polskiej-branzy-gier17.pdf. Accessed 21 February 2021.
Bulut, E. (2015). Glamor above, precarity below: Immaterial labour in the video game industry. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 32, 193–207. https://doi.org/10.1080/15295036.2015.1047880
Christopherson, S. (2006). Behind the scenes: How transnational firms are constructing a new international division of labor in media work. Geoforum, 37, 739–751. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2006.01.003
Chung, P. (2016). Revisiting creative industry models for game industry development in Southeast Asia. In A. Fung (Ed.), Global game industries and cultural policy (pp. 125–151). Palgrave Macmillan.
Davis-Blake, A., & Broschak, P. (2009). Outsourcing and the changing nature of work. Annual Review of Sociology, 35, 321–340. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.34.040507.134641
Dev9k (2020). Main page. http://www.dev9k.com. Accessed 15 October 2020.
Dyer-Witheford, N., & de Peuter, G. (2009). Games of empire: Global capitalism and video games. UMP.
Estonian Institute of Economic Research (2018). 12 Meelelahutustarkvara. https://www.kul.ee/sites/kulminn/files/12._meelelahutustarkvara.pdf. Accessed 21 February 2021.
Flecker, J. (2009). Outsourcing, spatial relocation and the fragmentation of employment. Competition & Change, 13, 251–266. https://doi.org/10.1179/102452909X451369
Flecker, J. (2016). Introduction. In J. Flecker (Ed.), Space, place and global digital work (pp. 1–8). Palgrave Macmillan.
Flecker, J., & Schönauer, A. (2016). The production of ‘placelessness’: Digital service work in global value chain. In J. Flecker (Ed.), Space, place and global digital work (pp. 11–30). Palgrave Macmillan.
Glassdoor (2020). Fox3D entertainment [Reviews]. https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Fox3D-Entertainment-Reviews-E1144625.htm. Accessed 21 February 2021.
Hardy, J. (2009). Poland’s new capitalism. Pluto.
Huntemann, N. B. (2013). Women in video games: The case of hardware production and promotion. In N. B. Huntemann & B. Aslinger (Eds.), Gaming globally: Production, play and place (pp. 41–58). Palgrave Macmillan.
Huntemann, N. B., & Aslinger, B. (Eds.). (2013). Gaming globally: Production, play, and place. Palgrave Macmillan.
Huws, U., Dahlmann, S., & Flecker, J. (2004). Outsourcing of ICT and related services in the EU: A status report (report for the European foundation for the improvement of living and working conditions). Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.
Izushi, H., & Aoyama, Y. (2006). Industry evolution and cross-sectoral skill transfers: A comparative analysis of the video game in Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Environment and Planning A, 38, 1843–1861. https://doi.org/10.1068/a37205
Johns, J. (2006). Video game production networks: Value capture, power relations and embeddedness. Journal of Economic Geography, 6, 151–180. https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbi001
Kamińska-Korolczuk, K., & Kijewska, B. (2017). The history of the internet in Estonia and Poland. In G. Goggin & M. McLelland (Eds.), The Routledge companion to global internet histories (pp. 135–150). Routledge.
Keogh, B. (2021). The cultural field of video game production in Australia. Games and Culture, 16, 116–135. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412019873746
Kerr, A. (2006). The business and culture of digital games: Gamework and gameplay. Sage.
Kerr, A. (2014). Placing International Media Production. Media Industries, 1(1), 27–32. https://doi.org/10.3998/mij.15031809.0001.106
Kerr, A. (2017). Global games: Production, circulation and policy in the networked era. Routledge.
Kerr, A., & Cawley, A. (2012). The spatialisation of the digital games industry: Lessons from Ireland. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 18, 398–418. https://doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2011.598515
Kerr, A., & Kelleher, J. D. (2015). The recruitment of passion and community in the service of capital: Community managers in the digital games industry. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 32, 177–192. https://doi.org/10.1080/15295036.2015.1045005
Kluska, B. (2019, November 23). Karen, logical design works i dzial oprogramowania eksportowego. Pixelpost. http://pixelpost.pl/karen-logical-desing-works-i-dzial-oprogramowania-eksportowego/. Accessed 21 Februar 2021.
Kluska, B., & Rozwadowski, M. (2011). Bajty polskie. Samizdat Orka.
Kosman, M. (2015). Nie tylko wiedźmin: Historia polskich gier komputerowych. Open Beta.
Lefebrve, H. (1974). La production de l’espace. Anthropos. English edition: Lefebrve, H. (1991). The production of space (trans: Nicholson-Smith, D.). Blackwell.
Mosco, V. (1996). The political economy of communication. Sage.
Nichols, R. (2014). The video game business. Palgrave Macmillan.
Ozimek, A. M. (2018). Videogame work in Poland investigating creative labour in a post-socialist culture industry [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Leeds.
Šisler, V., Švelch, J., & Šlerka, J. (2017). Video games and the asymmetry of global cultural flows: The game industry and game culture in Iran and the Czech Republic. International Journal of Communication, 11, 3857–3879.
Sotamaa, O., Jorgensen, K., & Sandqvist, U. (2019). Public game funding in the Nordic region. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 26, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2019.1656203
Stone, T., Belgrave, J., & Kovacevic, S. (2006). The games industry in Eastern Europe. Department of Trade and Industry.
Å velch, J. (2018). Gaming the iron curtain: How teenagers and amateurs in communist Czechoslovakia claimed the medium of computer games. MIT.
Takahashi, D. (2020, January 2). SuperData: Games hit $120.1 billion in 2019, with Fortnite topping $1.8 billion. VentureBeat. https://venturebeat.com/2020/01/02/superdata-games-hit-120-1-billion-in-2019-with-fortnite-topping-1-8-billion/. Accessed 21 February 2021.
Tartu City Government. (2019). Engaging with industry and public authorities: Part 4—Estonia—Tartu. Resource document. BGZ Berlin International Cooperation Agency GmbH. http://baltic-games.eu/files/bgi_goa2-2_output_4_es-ta.pdf. Accessed 21 February 2021.
Teipen, C. (2008). Work and employment in creative industries: The video game industry in Germany, Sweden and Poland. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 29, 309–335. https://doi.org/10.1177/0143831X08092459
Thomsen, M. (2018, February 6). The universe has been outsourced: The unseen labor behind the video game industry’s biggest titles. The Outline. https://theoutline.com/post/3087/outsourcing-blockbuster-video-games-made-in-china-horizon-zero-dawn?zi=blsj76ob&zd=2. Accessed 21 February 2021.
Acknowledgements
This project was funded by the Estonian Research Council grant (European Regional Development Fund and the programme Mobilitas Pluss (MOBJD380)).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ozimek, A. (2021). Supporting the Global Digital Games Industry: Outsourcing Games Production in Poland and Estonia. In: Will-Zocholl, M., Roth-Ebner, C. (eds) Topologies of Digital Work. Dynamics of Virtual Work. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80327-8_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80327-8_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-80326-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-80327-8
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)