Abstract

The 1990s saw the digital games industry adopt similar commercial strategies to the cultural industry which for 80 years has been most closely associated with the process of globalisation – the Hollywood-based movie industry. The major console players, Sony, Nintendo and more recently Microsoft, expanded on a global scale, vertically and horizontally integrating through alliances and take-overs as they sought to control hardware, content development, publishing and distribution. Moreover the relationship between the two industries has become increasingly symbiotic. Vivendi Universal has moved into the exploitation of both game and film assets on a global scale and would seem to exemplify what we understand by contemporary globalisation. This paper considers globalisation through an analysis of the movie and digital game industries both globally and from the perspective of a small country like Ireland which has a high level of cinema attendance and game sales but is struggling to establish domestic movie and game industries. Key Words: globalisation, convergence, movie industry, digital games, power, cultural imperialism