LO1
Business Report
Introduction
to Report-
In this report I am going to be analysing the
company known as, SumoDigital to complete my Business Report for LO1, the
sections of this company I will be analysing is the company structure in which
I will analysis how the company is organised and structured to work (the
hierarchy). The platform technology they use, in which I will analysis the
gaming platform they work on/create games for and how they adapt to new
technologies, the game types in which the company makes (using examples) and
how it establishes them and itself in the industry, the games it makes for
multi-platforming and how the company approaches this, the regulatory bodies in
which the company has to develop in accordance for the games they produce and
finial the software the company uses in the development of their product.
Section
1-Company Structure (Hierarchy)-
The company I am analysing is called ‘SumoDigital’,
it’s based in the United Kingdom in Sheffield, and it was set up in 2003 after
the closure of infogrames studios Sheffield/Gremlin Interactive. The company
known as ‘SumoDigital’ started after the closure of infogrames studios
Sheffield/Gremlin Interactive at which point many of the former employees of
the closed companies joined SumoDigital, and have been developing SumoDigital
into the form it’s in today by first of all acquiring their independence via a
managerial buyout from Foundation 9 and working hard to get their name out there
by producing high end games for various platforms.
The company structure in which SumoDigital operates is
difficult to define as it’s neither tall nor flat however it uses bits of both
the organisational structures, as shown below;
It is not yet large enough to have a fully
operational ‘tall organisational structure’ but it does however employ some of
the tall organisation structure methods i.e. the allocation of certain jobs and
job roles to certain (qualified) individuals which then in turn go on to
disburse the jobs they need doing to their employee’s that they are in charge
of as showed above. But as the company ‘SumoDigital’ is not a massive
organisation with lots of employees (270 to be exact) the tall structure does
not fully come into play which means that some of the flat structures methods
do, as the higher-ups (managerial/ management) will have contact with some of
the other employees other than just the managerial staff. This however can work
in the managements/founders favour as there is less decision making involved in
ideas/decisions and it is typically faster decisions.
Section
2-Platform Technology-
The company ‘SumoDigital’ ensures that the games
they are creating are ready for release by keeping to a schedule (production
plan) and ensuring everything is going according to the plan/schedule.
SumoDigital develops games for varied platforms both
old generation consoles/platforms and new generation consoles/platforms, here
are all of the platforms they have worked on;
Platforms;
·
Sony Computer Entertainment- PlayStation
network, with the platforms varying from PS Vita, to the PlayStation portable
(PSP), to the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and the new generation PlayStation 4.
·
Microsoft- With the platforms varying
from the Xbox Arcade, Xbox, Xbox 360 and the new generation Xbox One.
·
Nintendo- With the platform varying from
the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS and the next generation Nintendo
Wii U.
·
The computer platforms that SumoDigital
worked on vary from Microsoft Windows and Mac OS from Apple.
·
The operating platforms for the mobile
phones that SumoDigital worked on again vary from Apples IOS, Android and
BlackBerry.
SumoDigital make sure that they are ready to work on
not only different technologies but new technologies (Next Generation) by making
sure they are prepared and up to date on all new upcoming technologies and
technologies that are still in the production stage. This also helps them as
when there is a new platform released, for example the new next generation of
consoles; Xbox One and PlayStation 4. When the next generation consoles Xbox
One and PlayStation 4 was released SumoDigital had to adapt to be develop
products capable and worthy of the new technology, they most likely did this by
learning or using new or different software that was capable of what the next
generation consoles and its consumers were demanding.
Section
3-Game Types-
Companies are defined by what products they make and
to what standard the products are made to in this case SumoDigital are defined
by the types of games and the genre of the games they produce. SumoDigital are
defined by the genre(s) of arcade, racing and sports this is because they have
the most experience working with these genres as this is the genre in which the
majority of their projects are created as. They defined themselves with the
well-known games they created such as; Forza Horizon 2 from 2014, Xbox
Fitness from 2013, Nike+ Kinect Training from 2012, F1 2011 from 2011, Sonic
& Sega All-Stars Racing from 2011, Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing from
2010, F1 2009 from 2009, Sega Superstars Tennis from 2008 and many more. And as
these games are aimed at a younger audience (the games typically don’t go
higher than the age of 9) and thus don’t typically use explicit content
(violence, sex/nudity or swearing), they may be defined as a ‘classy’ and well
established company to some people (parents/ religious people) as they don’t
have to degrade themselves to create games with explicit content to make money
like most well-known companies often do.
Other game types/genres that
SumoDigital produce
SumoDigital
has also developed games that are outside of their typical genres, here are
some examples;
- Broken Sword: The Angel of Death which falls into the genre of point
and click adventure.
- Dead Space Ignition which falls into the genre of action and puzzle
game.
LittleBigPlanet
3 which falls into the genre of puzzle-platformer and sandbox.
These are
just a few examples of the games that show that SumoDigital can diverse into
different genres.
The company and the
publisher will work together by ensuring the production is of the product/game
is on schedule and everything is correct i.e. they work together is by making
sure they hit all the intended target audience criteria, for example the age
group would need to be hit and this would be done by ensuring the product falls
within the age group they wanted by not going over the restrictions set for
that category, another way they would work together is to again ensure the
intended target audience is hit by ensuring the genre that was intended for the
product/game is reached.
Section
4- Games on Multi-Platforms-
SumoDigital would have had to cross-platform for
games such as Forza
Horizon 2 from 2014 and LittleBigPlanet 3 from 2014.
SumoDigital could approach making a game for more multiple platforms in
several ways, one way would be to use JUCE- an open source ‘cross-platform C++
application framework’ which uses a code known as C++ which is used to write
native software on several platform (mainly mobile and operating systems for
PC) and therefore allows cross-platforming through the operating systems of windows,
Linux and Mac OS.
Section
5-Regulatory Bodies-
The regulatory bodies in which SumoDigital needs to
develop their product in accordance with are; PEGI (Pan European Game Information),
PEGI is an organisation that gives age rating based on the content within a game.
This means that when the company ‘SumoDigital ’is developing a product or game
they have to take into account the age rating and what the restrictions are for
that age group and by doing this they are not only hitting the intended target
audience they were going to aim at, but they are also following the guidelines set
by the regulatory body ‘PEGI’.
Section
6-Developmental Software-
The software that would be used by SumoDigital would
vary from job to job as they require different things to complete the job and
they require different outcomes. For example the coders would most likely use
C++ and the designers and artists could use a variety of software from SketchBook
Pro, to FL Studio 11, to Mari, to ZBrush, or even Unity Pro with choices from
many more.
