Play It Again, Sam - Internet Killed The Video Star

The advent of the internet has changed the face of video games. Where gaming was once a social convention constrained to the television box in our living rooms, the internet has now opened us to a world of interconnected experiences that enables us to play with just about anyone and everyone around the world.

- Sharmine Ishak

But beyond the multiplayer possibilities, the internet is also responsible for creating a paradigm shift in how content is consumed and delivered to consumers. Pre-internet games typically did not feature additional content post-release, and developers then certainly spent as much time as they could to weed out all the bugs before launch. Today, studios have the comfort of being able to patch and fix games months, even years, after they’ve gone gold.

This modern approach to content delivery, facilitated by the internet, opens up new gateways and gaming business models that would otherwise be impossible to execute without connectivity. Gamers would be most familiar with paid downloadable content (DLC), which expands on the existing experiences, giving them more to look forward to when they’ve completed the main game.