Before and After: Towards Inclusive Production Studies, Theories, and Methods

Abstract

In the afterword, Aphra Kerr revisits the early works of production-oriented research about video games, including her own ethnographic study of a small game development studio in Ireland. From a firsthand perspective, Kerr describes the first academic conferences that pioneered this direction of scholarly inquiry. Besides looking back at the foundations of game production studies, the afterword thematizes the recent developments in video game industries, such as datafication, the environmental effects of production, surveillance capitalism, and toxic game cultures, suggesting the future directions for more inclusive game production studies.