Apps of Empire: Global Capitalism and the App Economy

2020 ◽  
pp. 155541202093782 ◽  
Author(s):  
David B. Nieborg
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Economic Analysis ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Global Capitalism ◽  
The Political ◽  
Mobile Platforms ◽  
Mobile Media ◽  
Game Industry ◽  
Capital Intensive ◽  
App Economy

This article interrogates Dyer-Witheford and De Peuter’s Games of Empire. Since its publication in 2009, the game industry evolved significantly, adding billions of players, dollars, and devices. One of the driving forces of this transformation has been the global diffusion of mobile media. This raises the question: Do mobile platforms and the app stores operated by Apple and Google allow for a radical departure from global hypercapitalism? This question will be explored by taking on three themes: shifts in labor, the political economy of platformization, and the capital-intensive mode of app production and circulation. Doing so addresses two gaps in Games of Empire’ s approach: a dearth of empirical economic analysis and the acknowledgment of work in critical platform studies and mainstream economics. It is concluded that rather than providing a staging ground for dissent or collective action, apps of empire signal the foreclosure of an exodus from global hypercapitalism.

scholarly journals Lost in the App Store: The Political Economy of the Canadian Game App Economy

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
David B. Nieborg ◽  
Chris Young ◽  
Daniel Joseph
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Emerging Technology ◽  
Digital Transformation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
App Store ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Game Industry ◽  
App Economy ◽  
Le Canada

This commentary discusses the political economy of apps. The authors found that Canadian-made game apps are notably absent in the Canadian App Store. This should be both worrying and surprising, as Canada has a relatively sizable game industry. While policy conversations on digital transformation focus on emerging technology, the authors point toward the power and politics of digital platforms as one of the key issues preventing growth in the Canadian digital economy.Ce commentaire discute de l’économie politique des applications. Les auteurs ont observé que les applis de jeu fabriqués au Canada sont absents de l’App Store canadien. Cette situation devrait surprendre et inquiéter, puisque le Canada a une industrie du jeu relativement grande. Les conversations sur les politiques relatives à la transformation numérique portent en grande partie sur les technologies émergentes, mais les auteurs tiennent à souligner que le pouvoir et les politiques relatifs aux plateformes numériques sont parmi les raisons clés pour lesquelles l’économie numérique au Canada ne croît pas autant qu’elle le pourrait.

scholarly journals App Imperialism: The Political Economy of the Canadian App Store

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 205630512093329 ◽  
Author(s):  
David B. Nieborg ◽  
Chris J. Young ◽  
Daniel Joseph
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Business Studies ◽  
App Store ◽  
The Us ◽  
Complex Ecosystem ◽  
Game Industry ◽  
Spatial Trajectories ◽  
App Economy

To critically engage with the political economy of platformization, this article builds on the concepts of platform capitalism and platform imperialism to situate platforms within wider historical, economic, and spatial trajectories. To investigate if platformization leads to the geographical redistribution of capital and power, we draw on the Canadian instance of Apple’s iOS App Store as a case study. App stores are situated in a complex ecosystem of markets, infrastructures, and governance models that the disparate fields of business studies, critical political economy of communications, and platform studies have begun to catalog. Through a combination of financial and institutional analysis, we ask if Canadian game app developers are effective in generating revenue within their own national App Store. Given Canada’s vibrant game industry one would expect Canadian developers to have a sizable economic footprint in the burgeoning app economy. Our results, however, point toward the US digital dominance and, therefore, we suggest the notion of app imperialism to signal the continuation, if not reinforcement of existing instances of economic inequalities and imperialism.

Aristotle and the political economy of the polis

1979 ◽  
Vol 99 ◽  
pp. 57-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Meikle
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Economic Analysis ◽  
Market Economy ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
The Political ◽  
Process Of Change ◽  
Historical Process ◽  
Substantial Body ◽  
Moral Condemnation

Athens in the fourth century was undergoing a process of social and economic change of which a major component was the development of elements of market economy. The question to be addressed here is: what response does that historical process meet with in the work of Aristotle? I shall contend that Aristotle has a substantial body of thought, analytical in nature and intent, which is directed specifically to the analysis of that process. M. I. Finley has drawn quite the contrary conclusion, and in addition to developing my own account of Aristotle's thought 1 shall have to examine the shortcomings of Finley's. Finley takes the view that although Aristotle was aware of the process of change he simply ignored it, and that there is no trace of any analytical concern with it to be found in those sections of the Aristotelian corpus which it has been usual to regard as containing Aristotle's ‘economic’ thought, namely, NE v 5, and Pol i 8–10. Finley sees in Aristotle nothing more than moral condemnation of certain practices such as kapelike which he regarded as damaging to the koinonia of the polis.It sometimes happens that what one finds in an author depends on one's possession or lack of the equipment necessary to recognise what is there and to identify it for what it is. Finley is looking at Aristotle in order to determine the presence or absence of what he terms ‘economic analysis’.

scholarly journals The Political Economy of Canada's Video and Computer Game Industry

2005 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Dyer-Witheford ◽  
Zena Sharman
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
New Media ◽  
Computer Games ◽  
Regional Distribution ◽  
Computer Game ◽  
The Political ◽  
Media Industry ◽  
Game Industry ◽  
Developmental Dynamics ◽  
Computer Game Industry

Abstract: Video and computer games are a burgeoning new media industry with global revenues rivaling those of film and music. This article, reporting on a three-year SSHRC-funded research project, analyzes the political economy of Canadian involvement in the interactive game business. After an overview of companies, ownership, markets and regional distribution, it discusses the developmental dynamics and contradictions of the Canadian industry in terms of capital, state, and labour. It concludes by reviewing different ways these interweaving forces may ‘play out’ and their implications for policy decisions affecting the Canadian video and computer game industry. Résumé : Les jeux électroniques sont une nouvelle industrie médiatique en plein essor dont les revenus mondiaux rivalisent avec ceux des industries du film et de la musique. Cet article, qui rend compte d’un projet de recherche de trois ans financé par le CRHS, analyse l’économie politique de la participation canadienne à l’industrie du jeu interactif. L’article – suivant une vue d’ensemble des compagnies, de leurs propriétaires, des marchés, et de la distribution régionale – traite des dynamiques du développement ainsi que des contradictions de l’industrie canadienne en fonction de capital, état et travail. En guise de conclusion, l’article passe en revue les diverses manières dont ces trois forces interreliées pourront évoluer et l’impact de celles-ci sur les décisions politiques portant sur l’industrie des jeux électroniques au Canada.

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