Middleware and European Standardisation
On GDCE 2011 EGDF did a session on Middleware and European Standardisation:
First of all, with Game Co-op Malmö we run a website www.gamemiddleware.org. It is like a phone book of the game middleware. The game middleware is important. It is between a platform and a game itself. It allows higher portability and allows better maintainability.This event has been made possible by the NEM initiative.
Why do we talk about standardisation? The standardisation has a long history in Europe. One of the biggest success stories is the metric system, as a result of its introduction our economy went up. More recent success was the introduction of GSM standard, which gave Europe a good head start compared with other parts of the world; a head start that we have lost now.
Another thing is that Europe does not control end-user technology. We do not control consoles at all, less and less mobile phones etc. Middleware gives greater independence to European developers.
In addition, European developers want less and less reinvent the wheal while developing their games.
European middleware companies have a greater and greater role in markets. Not necessary in the USA, but e.g. in Korea Europeans almost dominate middleware markets. Thus although Korea is ahead of us in game development, this is not the case with game middleware. European middleware is becoming stronger and stronger outside Europe. We should see that on the technology side we do not have to hide.
Europeans are confronted by standards from other continents. These are de facto standards run by network effect and the economy of scale. Google was a small company not a very long time ago, that we should not forget.
Thus our vision is: interoperability, multiavailability and tools that serve game developer community.
My last point is that standardisation happens anyway. The standardisation machine is going on all the time. The problem is that we, the game industry, do not contribute to that discussion. Our voice is not heard.
The whole Session minutes can be found here: EGDF@GDCE Minutues 201108 Games middleware and standardisation
