An excellent effort to "Broaden and demystify the contexts and driver of video game production". It explores the friction between economic and cultural forces at play in the production of video games, whether a AAA title made by hundred's of people or a twine game made by one person in their spare time.

While it's a relatively dense academic work with a lot of framing that I don't have the background to fully internalize, I nevertheless found it a pretty accessible synthesis of many fascinating ideas. Using the relatively small case of Australia as a sample study, it challenges the preconceptions of viewing the field of game development as purely technological process, it's value measured only in economic success.

As game development has become increasingly formalized, their cultural values have been increasingly co-opted into the economic engine. Larger studios have created pipelines funneling players into creating content as free labour or tertiary courses tailored as technical training for jobs that no longer exist.

But we wouldn't have a AAA games industry if it wasn't for the foundation of individuals and small teams exploring new ideas and embracing the medium as a cultural, iterative process, rather than just a final product to be consumed.