Wal-Mart and Video Game Designers Work Together
By Alex Russel
alex.russel@computeranimationschoolreview.com
Computer Animation School Review Columnist
Unsurprisingly, Wal-Mart supermarkets have a major influence on video game design publishing. Their retail reach is so huge (two percent of the country's GDP) that the company can't help but be a major voice in what gets designed.
Wal-Mart critics won't be surprised: The Bentonville, Arkansas, retail giant carries serious weight in the video game design business, just as it does in most other retail markets.
Wal-Mart Calls Shots with Video Game Designers
Unlike other markets, however, Wal-Mart hasn't caused a game designer job exodus to offshore countries like China and India. Video game designs stocked on Wal-Mart shelves are largely designed in the USA.
Wal-Mart's influence, as with music and movies, is primarily felt in the content arena. Nudity and excessive violence are categorically banned from Wal-Mart shelves. In games like Duke Nukem 3D and Blood, designers have had to make changes, such as altering the blood color from red to green or putting a bikini on nude characters.
Making Video Game Design More Decent
And when Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was found to have hidden and indecent content, the game disappeared from Wal-Mart stores overnight. Its replacement has been swept of anything deemed inappropriate.
Beyond nudity and violence, Wal-Mart has also helped democratize video game design. Game Hunter, a hunting video game, invites ridicule from video game designers for its simplicity, but it has reportedly sold 10 million copies at $20 a copy at Wal-Marts nationwide. With the game, analysts say, Wal-Mart single-handedly created a new (and less picky) market for video games.
Video Game Design Embraces Online Distribution
The problem on the horizon for Wal-Mart is online distribution. Video game designers expect their work to become increasingly available through the Internet, without a stop at stores like Wal-Mart. Online distribution, designers expect, will cut video game piracy and starve the lucrative used video game market, too. But retailers might be left out in the cold.
Sources
Escapist Magazine
About the Author
Alex Russel is a freelance media writer living in Brooklyn, New York.
Posted on May 9, 2006 at 08:44 PM
