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  • Published: 1 March 2011
  • ISBN: 9780753519455
  • Imprint: Virgin Books
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 272
  • RRP: $29.99

Fun Inc.

Why games are the 21st Century's most serious business




'A thought-provoking read for those already won over to the delights of computer games, and an even more important introduction to them for those who remain sceptical' Observer

'Tom Chatfield's Fun Inc. is the most elegant and comprehensive defence of the status of computer games in our culture I have read, as well as a helpful compendium of research ... The numbers surrounding the sector are certainly thudding. By the end of 2008, annual sales of video games - not including consoles or devices - was $40 billion, comfortably outstripping the movie business. In the same year, Nintendo's employees were more profitable per head than Google's. The sheer pervasiveness of game experience - 99 per cent of teenage boys and 94 per cent of teenage girls having played a video game - means that instant naffness falls upon those who express a musty disdain for the medium. In fact, as Fun Inc. elegantly explains, computer game-playing has a very strong claim to be one of the most vital test-beds for intellectual enquiry.'
Independent

  • Published: 1 March 2011
  • ISBN: 9780753519455
  • Imprint: Virgin Books
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 272
  • RRP: $29.99

About the author

Tom Chatfield

Tom Chatfield is a freelance author and commentator. His first book, Fun Inc. (Virgin), was published in 2010. He has done design, writing and consultancy work for games and media companies including Google, Mind Candy, VCCP, Preloaded, Grex, Red Glasses and Intervox; and has spoken widely on technology, media and gaming at forums including TED Global, the Cannes Lions Festival, the House of Commons, the RSA, ICA, authors@Google and the World IT Congress.

A former senior editor at Prospect magazine, he has a doctorate from St. John's College, Oxford, and has written widely in the national and international press, including for the Observer, Independent, Sunday Times, Wired, New Statesman, Evening Standard, Times Literary Supplement, and the website Boing Boing. He also writes fiction, and plays jazz piano.

Also by Tom Chatfield

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Praise for Fun Inc.

A lively, thought-provoking and thoughtful read on an entertainment juggernaut many of us have failed to properly recognise. A good book, too, for parents, who might feel far more comfortably informed about a sector that can come across as - literally - an alien world their kids inhabit.

The Irish Times

A detailed and engaging analysis on an increasingly influential medium. Even non-gamers may find themselves seduced.

Esquire

Games are invading our downtime. They are becoming the dominant form of distraction, stealing thousands of hours from television. And they have, as Chatfield says, escaped from the gloom of the teenage bedroom.

The Sunday Times

Sparklingly intelligent and nuanced ... Fun Inc. is fresh and engaging

Steven Poole, Guardian

In exploring the potential of the medium, Chatfield covers much territory, briskly and with intent ... His conclusion on what the future could hold is in equal parts daunting and lip-smacking. It should be read by gamers and non-gamers alike.

Time Out

A thought-provoking read for those already won over to the delights of computer games, and an even more important introduction to them for those who remain sceptical

Observer

The most elegant and comprehensive defence of the status of computer games in our culture I have read

Independent

Excellent

Evening Standard