Informal institutions in the video game industry: Between local work culture and global gamer norms — case studies

Abstract

Motivation: The video game industry is a rapidly evolving, globalised creative sector in which companies face not only formal regulations but also strong informal institutional pressures. Social norms, cultural expectations, and community-driven standards influence how gaming firms design products, shape internal cultures, and respond to reputational challenges. Despite its importance, the role of informal institutions in this context remains underexplored in the strategic economics literature.
Aim: The aim of this paper is to categorize specific informal institutions — ranging from internal workplace practices to external digital community norms — and analyze their functional relationship with formal corporate structures using Helmke and Levitsky’s typology. By doing so, the study identifies how these unwritten rules, often emerging outside officially sanctioned channels, influence strategic pivots in response to reputational and institutional crises.
Materials and methods: The research adopts a qualitative comparative case study approach to examine three companies: Ubisoft (France), Riot Games (USA/China), and CD Projekt RED (Poland). The cases were selected for their cultural diversity, media visibility, and distinct community relationships. All three companies have also experienced major reputational crises, revealing different institutional responses and providing a common ground for comparison. Data sources include corporate communications, industry reports, media analyses, and secondary academic literature.
Results: Findings show that informal institutions significantly influence corporate strategy, often surpassing formal regulations. Utilizing Helmke and Levitsky’s typology, the study demonstrates that workplace cultures and community norms act as substitutive, competing, or accommodating mechanisms. Digital platforms are identified as new evaluative infrastructures that enforce accountability when formal governance fails. Furthermore, global community pressures are filtered through national labour market models, consistent with the Varieties of Capitalism framework. Ultimately, these informal forces are critical for strategic pivots during reputational crises in the global creative economy.