Abstract
How have storage technologies enabled the video game industry to go from collecting quarters in a Silicon Valley tavern to rivaling Hollywood’s revenues in half the time?
The global interactive electronic entertainment industry has grown to nearly $135-billion in annual sales, and it continues to enjoy annual growth of nearly 20%.
The role of data storage media is uniquely central to the video game industry, as it is ultimately the canvas upon which game developers paint. More than ever, games require huge amounts of storage, not only for the distribution of game programs, but also for logging data about game play, from high score lists to saved session information and sharing playback videos. These requirements may be met with homogeneous or heterogeneous media types, each fulfilling different demands for low cost and latency, high capacity and bandwidth, and acceptable levels of persistence.
Using case studies, this presentation will survey the changing types and roles of storage media within the video game industry, and will attempt to identify interesting trends for forecasting opportunities.