ABSTRACT
It used to be that most games that drew headlines were not casual products. In the age of the console games during the s and s, the notion of people just developing a game alone or even as a hobby was more a dream of the past than a reality. However, things have changed dramatically, especially in the last fi ve years. Th e “democratization of game development” that the Danish game technology Unity Technologies used as their slogan has begun to materialize. Profound changes have come about with new gaming platforms, still more elaborate business models, innovative funding opportunities, and incredibly powerful game development tools-all at the fi ngertips of budding game developers. Whether this trend will continue to grow or become just a footnote in the history of games driven by the profound changes the industry is currently undergoing is still too early to say.
