Traditionally there have been four distinct stages to bringing a game to the market (development, publishing, distribution and retail) although this supply chain is increasingly having to adapt to ever-evolving network technology.

 • Development - The design and creation (i.e. coding) of a game. This is done by specialist development companies and publishers' in-house resources.

 • Publishing - done by specialist software publishers who are responsible for the overall management of a game's development, its packaging, manufacture, distribution, marketing and, more often than not, funding.

 • Distribution - done by specialist distributors or by the publishers direct to the larger retail chains.

 • Retail/Mail order - done principally by specialist software retailers, electrical goods shops and online vendors, but increasingly by non-specialist multiples such as supermarkets too.

 • Network Gaming - affecting every aspect of the value chain from design to exploitation to distribution and sales, network technology is beginning to force change within the industry.