Situating Platform-Based Precarity: Platformization and the (Dis)embedding of the Dutch Game Industry (1980-2022)

Digital platforms exacerbate informal and unstable working conditions in the game industry. However, more research is needed on how working conditions on platforms are shaped by specific local contexts. Based on a national case study of the Netherlands, this article studies the embeddedness of game developers in national business networks and how these networks have influenced and are influenced by precarious conditions in digital platform markets. Using thirty-two interviews, industry reports, and news articles, the research finds that while developers experience increased competition and financial risk in platform markets, they also mitigate the impact of uncertainty by pursuing strategies to embed themselves more firmly both in transnational business networks with platforms and publishers and in local policy and business networks. The ability of developers to embed themselves in these networks is contingent upon characteristics of the local economy, such as lobbying efforts of developers, policies implemented by decision-makers, and business networks outside of the game industry. The findings indicate that approaches that account for different forms embeddedness can serve as a productive lens for future media industries research on the role of geography, at different scales, in shaping working conditions for cultural producers active on digital platforms.