HA1 Task 1 - The Value Chain

Console Manufacturers/First party publishers
Console manufacturers and First party publishers are companies which are apart of, or have been acquired by a larger company, such as Sony or Microsoft.
They develop their content exclusively for their respective companies.

Publishers
It is the Publishers job to produce, advertise and sell a companies product.
it is down to the publisher to ensure their product sells. However that's not to say that a company such as Sony or Ubisoft can't publish their own products.

Developers
The developers are the work force of the games industry. They design, programme and generally create video games.

Some developers work directly under a larger company, such as Sony, Nintendo or Microsoft. These games are made exclusive for their companies respective hardware, however there are also "Third-Party Developers" These developers create games for various devices and are allowed to develop freely of first party influence.

Outsourcing Companies
These companies are like a crutch for the bigger developers. They may specialise in a specific field, in which a larger company could hire them to do. This allows the larger companies to maintain the strengh of their main work force who may or may not specialise in the task at hand, while avoiding the extra cost of brand new employees.

Press and Media
The Press and Media can be a double edged sword within the games industry. They can be useful for advertising and praising a video game, however they are also more than capable of pointing out their faults or the rotten ones in general.

This helps the consumer to form an opinion regarding a product before they even try it out or themselves.
This can potentially be ground breaking for a video games company, but at the same time, disasterous..

Distribution and Retail
It is down to Retail to order and then sell a product, You can purchase a product from a retailer at a store, such as "GAME" or even online, with a company such as "Amazon".
In the case of ordering online, the products can then be distributed to the customer. This can be done digitally in seconds, however if the product is a physical copy, it can be sent through the postal system, which can take various lenghs of time to arrive.

Apps
Apps, (Applications) are software applications which are designed to run on Mobile devices. Usually, they are downloaded from the platform to a target device, such as an iPhone, BlackBerry, Android phone or Windows Phone 7, but sometimes they can be downloaded to less mobile computers, such as laptops or desktops.

They are generally used for productivity or as a means of retrieving information. An Apps capabilities can range from being a mini game to a GPS to a Calender.

Sources:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page