Platform Paradox

Abstract

Porter (1998) noted that with continuing global homogenization in companies’ condition to obtain resources and gain access to markets, there is an increasing need to create a local, competitive advantage in industrial clusters. He called the importance of location in this age of globalization a “location paradox.” Similarly, when industry-wide platforms appear and global development technologies are standardized, companies need to accumulate unique technical capabilities to differentiate themselves. In this paper, this phenomenon is known as the “platform paradox,” and is verified by a case of videogame industry. The utilization of development platforms (game engines and middleware) standard within this industry during the 2000s, causing global homogenization in development technology. Videogame development companies’ industrial cluster located in Japan’s city of Fukuoka cooperated in technological matters in an effort to differentiate themselves with their technological sophistication in using platforms. By aggressively sharing knowledge to optimally utilize hardware and development tools, these companies have created a store of unique technologies.

Keywords

• industrial cluster
• platform
• videogame industry
• fukuoka city