A personalized video game is created for one specific player or a group of players usually as a luxury gift, similar to personalized books. It features real names, places and events from the recipient's life. Usual occasions for such games are birthdays, anniversaries, and engagement proposals.
History
[edit]Personalized video games were given as luxury gifts almost from the beginning of the game industry. A recent famous example includes a game given in 2002 by Kevin Smith to Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. In the game Lopez has to find and rescue Affleck, who has been kidnapped.[1]
One of the first professional personalized video games service was created by Abdel Bounane in 2011 and was called Amuze Me.[2] The costs of one game could run up to $67,000.[3] “Amuse Me makes personalized games in one’s image, like having your portrait made by a painter,” said Florent Deloison, one of the service's game artists.
In 2014, Netherlands-based developer TinglyGames launched its Greeting Games, an online program that lets users customize and send casual games within digital greeting cards.[4] Unlike Amuse Me, TinglyGames worked as a self-service and the games were not hand-made.
In 2020, polish developer Gift Games Studio started creating personalized video games in Poland.[5] Cheap personalized video games services are also offered by freelance game developers on marketplaces such as Fiverr.
References
[edit]- ^ "Hollywood couple get personalized video game - Geek.com". Geek.com. 2002-12-03. Archived from the original on 2018-09-20. Retrieved 2018-05-18.
- ^ Pfeiffer, Alice (2011-11-21). "Inspired by Your Life, a Custom-Designed Video Game". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2017-08-21. Retrieved 2018-05-18.
- ^ Hamilton, Kirk. "For Just $67,000, These Guys Will Make a Custom Video Game About Your Life". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 2018-09-20. Retrieved 2018-05-18.
- ^ "This will let you say 'Happy Birthday,' 'Get Well Soon' with a video game". Polygon. Archived from the original on 2018-09-07. Retrieved 2018-05-18.
- ^ giftgamesstudio.com