IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/jleorg/v31y2015isuppl_1pi143-i168..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Vertical Integration, Exclusivity, and Game Sales Performance in the US Video Game Industry

Author

Listed:
  • Ricard Gil
  • Frederic Warzynski

Abstract

This article empirically investigates the relation between vertical integration and game performance in the US video game industry. For this purpose, we use a data set on video game monthly sales from 2000 to 2007. We complement these data with information on game developers and the timing of all mergers and acquisitions during that period allowing us to separate vertically integrated games from independent games exclusive to a platform. First, we show that integrated games are associated with higher sales and higher prices than independent games. Second, we find suggestive evidence that most of the difference in performance is due to better release strategies and selection in game quality. We show that post-release marketing strategies do not seem to add value to vertically integrated games. Finally, we also find that exclusivity is associated with lower demand and higher prices due to lower inherent quality and better release strategies, respectively. (JEL L22, L24, L25, L86).

Suggested Citation

  • Ricard Gil & Frederic Warzynski, 2015. "Vertical Integration, Exclusivity, and Game Sales Performance in the US Video Game Industry," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 31(suppl_1), pages 143-168.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jleorg:v:31:y:2015:i:suppl_1:p:i143-i168.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jleo/ewu006
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lesley Chiou, 2009. "Empirical Analysis of Competition between Wal‐Mart and Other Retail Channels," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(2), pages 285-322, June.
    2. Matthew T. Clements & Hiroshi Ohashi, 2005. "Indirect Network Effects And The Product Cycle: Video Games In The U.S., 1994–2002," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(4), pages 515-542, December.
    3. Grossman, Sanford J & Hart, Oliver D, 1986. "The Costs and Benefits of Ownership: A Theory of Vertical and Lateral Integration," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(4), pages 691-719, August.
    4. Hiroshi Ohashi, 2005. "How does Ownership Structure Affect the Timing of New Product Introductions? Evidence from the U.S. Video Game Market," CARF F-Series CARF-F-026, Center for Advanced Research in Finance, Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo.
    5. Holmstrom, Bengt & Milgrom, Paul, 1991. "Multitask Principal-Agent Analyses: Incentive Contracts, Asset Ownership, and Job Design," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 7(0), pages 24-52, Special I.
    6. Hart, Oliver, 1995. "Firms, Contracts, and Financial Structure," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198288817.
    7. Robin S. Lee, 2013. "Vertical Integration and Exclusivity in Platform and Two-Sided Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(7), pages 2960-3000, December.
    8. Klein, Benjamin & Crawford, Robert G & Alchian, Armen A, 1978. "Vertical Integration, Appropriable Rents, and the Competitive Contracting Process," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(2), pages 297-326, October.
    9. Francine Lafontaine & Margaret Slade, 2007. "Vertical Integration and Firm Boundaries: The Evidence," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 45(3), pages 629-685, September.
    10. Holmstrom, Bengt & Milgrom, Paul, 1994. "The Firm as an Incentive System," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(4), pages 972-991, September.
    11. Corts, Kenneth S. & Lederman, Mara, 2009. "Software exclusivity and the scope of indirect network effects in the U.S. home video game market," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 121-136, March.
    12. James E. Prieger & Wei-Min Hu, 2006. "An Empirical Analysis of Indirect Network Effects in the Home Video Game Market," Working Papers 06-25, NET Institute, revised Oct 2006.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Christopher S. Brunt & Amanda S. King & John T. King, 2020. "The influence of user-generated content on video game demand," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 44(1), pages 35-56, March.
    2. Luca Aguzzoni & Elena Argentesi & Paolo Buccirossi & Lorenzo Ciari & Tomaso Duso & Massimo Tognoni & Cristiana Vitale, 2013. "They Played the Merger Game: A Retrospective Analysis in the UK Videogames Market," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1330, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    3. Benjamin Engelstätter & Michael R. Ward, 2018. "Strategic timing of entry: evidence from video games," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 42(1), pages 1-22, February.
    4. Kim, Jin-Hyuk & Prince, Jeffrey & Qiu, Calvin, 2014. "Indirect network effects and the quality dimension: A look at the gaming industry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 99-108.
    5. Parker, Owen N. & Mui, Rachel & Bhawe, Nachiket & Semadeni, Matthew, 2022. "Insight or ignorance: How collaborative history in a workgroup fits with project type to shape performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 154-167.
    6. Marissa Beck & Fiona Scott Morton, 2021. "Evaluating the Evidence on Vertical Mergers," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 59(2), pages 273-302, September.
    7. Yuchen Zhang & Jingjing Li & Tony W. Tong, 2022. "Platform governance matters: How platform gatekeeping affects knowledge sharing among complementors," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(3), pages 599-626, March.
    8. Peters, Frank, 2018. "The business of video games is a multi-player game : Essays on governance choices and performance in a two-sided market in the cultural industries," Other publications TiSEM 886b3148-4bbb-4ea4-b666-0, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    9. Yi, Jisu & Lee, Youseok & Kim, Sang-Hoon, 2019. "Determinants of growth and decline in mobile game diffusion," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 363-372.
    10. Venkat Kuppuswamy & Carliss Y. Baldwin, 2012. "Risky Business: The Impact of Property Rights on Investment and Revenue in the Film Industry," Harvard Business School Working Papers 13-007, Harvard Business School, revised Aug 2012.
    11. Haucap, Justus & Stiebale, Joel, 2023. "Non-price effects of mergers and acquisitions," DICE Discussion Papers 402, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    12. Masakazu Ishihara & Eitan Muller, 2020. "Software piracy and outsourcing in two-sided markets," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 61-124, March.
    13. Akifumi Ishihara & Ryoko Oki, 2021. "Exclusive content in two‐sided markets," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 638-654, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Maloney, Michael T., 2017. "Alchian remembrances," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 561-582.
    2. Peters, Frank, 2018. "The business of video games is a multi-player game : Essays on governance choices and performance in a two-sided market in the cultural industries," Other publications TiSEM 886b3148-4bbb-4ea4-b666-0, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    3. Hideshi Itoh, 2006. "The Theories of International Outsourcing and Integration : A Theoretical Overview from the Perspective of Organizational Economics," Microeconomics Working Papers 21891, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    4. Robert Gibbons & John Roberts, 2012. "The Handbook of Organizational Economics," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 9889.
    5. Glaeser, Edward L. & Shleifer, Andrei, 2001. "Not-for-profit entrepreneurs," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(1), pages 99-115, July.
    6. Timothy Bresnahan & Jonathan Levin, 2012. "Vertical Integration and Market Structure [The Handbook of Organizational Economics]," Introductory Chapters,, Princeton University Press.
    7. Bengt Holmstrom & John Roberts, 1998. "The Boundaries of the Firm Revisited," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(4), pages 73-94, Fall.
    8. Volker Mahnke, 2001. "The Process of Vertical Dis-Integration: An Evolutionary Perspective on Outsourcing," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 5(3), pages 353-379, September.
    9. Etro, Federico, 2011. "Endogenous market structures and contract theory: Delegation, principal-agent contracts, screening, franchising and tying," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(4), pages 463-479, May.
    10. Schmidt, Klaus, 2017. "The 2016 Nobel Memorial Prize in Contract Theory," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 19, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    11. Miguel Espinosa, 2021. "Labor Boundaries and Skills: The Case of Lobbyists," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(3), pages 1586-1607, March.
    12. Committee, Nobel Prize, 2016. "Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmström: Contract Theory," Nobel Prize in Economics documents 2016-1, Nobel Prize Committee.
    13. Ilya Segal & Michael D.Whinston, 2012. "Property Rights [The Handbook of Organizational Economics]," Introductory Chapters,, Princeton University Press.
    14. Wang, Tianxi, 2009. "Ownership, Control, and Incentive," Economics Discussion Papers 2955, University of Essex, Department of Economics.
    15. Eduard Marinov, 2016. "The 2016 Nobel Prize in Economics," Economic Thought journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 6, pages 97-149.
    16. Gibbons, Robert, 2005. "Four forma(lizable) theories of the firm?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 200-245, October.
    17. Schmid, Andreas, 2007. "Incentive Compatibility and Efficiency in the contractual Insurer-Provider Relationship: Economic Theory and practical Implications: The Case of North Carolina," MPRA Paper 23311, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2008.
    18. Christopher Hansman & Jonas Hjort & Gianmarco León-Ciliotta & Matthieu Teachout, 2020. "Vertical Integration, Supplier Behavior, and Quality Upgrading among Exporters," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(9), pages 3570-3625.
    19. Berger, Allen N. & Miller, Nathan H. & Petersen, Mitchell A. & Rajan, Raghuram G. & Stein, Jeremy C., 2005. "Does function follow organizational form? Evidence from the lending practices of large and small banks," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 237-269, May.
    20. Albert H. Choi, 2015. "Non-Profit Status and Relational Sanctions: Commitment to Quality through Repeat Interactions and Organizational Choice," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 58(4).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • L22 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Organization and Market Structure
    • L82 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Entertainment; Media
    • L86 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Information and Internet Services; Computer Software

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:jleorg:v:31:y:2015:i:suppl_1:p:i143-i168.. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/jleo .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.