Games and Innovation Research Seminar 2011 Working Papers

In this article I present the findings of a textual analysis conducted on game history books and game guides. Seven books are used as data for the analysis, and a list of the most acknowledged innovative games is formed based on this. The books are further analyzed to see what makes these games innovations. The found areas concerning each game’s innovativeness are the game as such (i.e., the quality of the game), the game compared to other games (i.e., the originality of the game), context, reception, and influence. I will use the results to discuss the concept of innovation in the game industry. Keyword-component: games; innovation; concept of innovation; history of video games

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