WIAS Visiting Researcher Seminar: KEOGH, Brendan
“Capital Games: How Videogame Production Industrialises” (11/9)
Abstract
The videogame industry is currently in crisis. Since 2022, over 50,000 developers have lost their jobs globally. More games are being released than ever before, but players are spending more of their time in a very small number of games. Multinational corporations are shutting down well-loved game studies; independent studios are struggling to attract new capital; and new generative AI technologies further threaten job security. This presentation will present in-progress research from the book I am currently writing to show how the current game industry crisis can be explained through Marx’s theory of the capitalist mode of production. I will outline how Marx’s theory of capitalist production applies to the evolution of the videogame industry and provide a preliminary argument for how this explains the current game industry crisis.
Date&Time
November 9, 2026 (Mon.) 17:00 – 18:45
Venue
Room #205, Building #10, Waseda Campus, Waseda University
Speaker
KEOGH, Brendan (Associate Professor, School of Communication, Queensland University of Technology)
Prospected Audience
Students, Graduate students, Faculty members, Research members, General Participants
Language
English
Organizer
Waseda Institute for Advanced Studies (WIAS)
Coordinator: YOSHIMOTO, Mitsuhiro (Professor, Faculty of International Research and Education)
Registration
Free; pre-registration not required.
