P1 - D

P1 – D

First Party Games

First party games are games that are part of the company that manufactures the console in which they are going to be released on. These games may use the name of the company that manufactures the game (i.e. Nintendo) and also usually have a specific division name (for example Sony’s Polyphony Digital). One example of a first party game is Mario Bros which was first released in arcades and was developed by Nintendo. The game stayed on Nintendo platforms ever since and is still a Nintendo exclusive even today. This game alone has been the reason many gamers have purchased Nintendo consoles as it remains one of the most popular and recognized games ever made despite only ever coming out on one console. 

Second Party Games

The term second party games refers to either one of two different types of game development students; firstly, it can refer to an independently owned studios who sign development contracts directly from the platform holders so that the games that they produce will be exclusive to that platform. Secondly, it can refer to game studios who are only partially or fully owned by the platform holder and what they produce will be exclusively on that platform. An example of this type of game would be Forza Motorsport; Forza Motorsport has signed a contract with Microsoft which states that their games will only come out on Xbox consoles. Microsoft pays the developers of Forza Motorsport in-return for only bringing the game out on their consoles which means both companies are making money off-of each other.

Third Party Games

Third party games are games that have contracts with multiple console platforms and can therefore be released on more than one platform. These games are usually the ones which make the most money as the more consoles a game is released on, the more money the developers are going to make from sales. A good example of a third party game is the Call of Duty franchise which has been on multiple platforms such as the Playstation and the Xbox since its release in 2002. Call of Duty is now the biggest franchise within the game industry selling millions of copies worldwide every year.