Explaining the Spatial Organization of Creative Industries: The Case of the U.S. Videogames Industry

• Main Authors: TSCHANG, F. Ted, VANG, Jan
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2008
• Subjects: Organizational Behavior and Theory; Strategic Management Policy
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/1439; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/2438/viewcontent/Explaining_the_Spatial_Organization_of_Creative_In.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

The paper presents a picture of the spatial location of the U.S. videogames industry as a broad range of clusters of different sizes, none of them dominant, then uses a variety of qualitative evidence (including interview and ethnographic) to illustrate a theory of how these variegated clusters have emerged and continue to persist, each in their own right. In effect, our main findings are that videogame clusters do not operate as other creative industry clusters, as described by the recent theories of buzz applied to other creative industries, nor by conventional linkage arguments (either to suppliers or financier-distributors). Rather, the in-house nature of the work, coupled with means of distantiated work, have allowed studios in clusters or outside of clusters to continue to work at a distance from their preferred publishers, and vice versa. In the end, this might be ascribed to the need to deal with lead creative human capital wherever it emerges and persists. The findings point out the importance of maintaining a heterogeneous view of creative industries and their construction: both organizationally, and spatially as clusters.