Crowd games

Crowd games are emerging subtype of video games. Crowd games are games that are played in large events and festivals. Multiple users control the games at the same time, meaning that input of the entire audience has an impact on the outcome of a game.
Crowd games are used to enhance the event atmosphere and to bring some entertainment to quieter moments of events.
Crowd games have only started emerging during the last decade, a few years after turn of the 21st century. As a new form of video game entertainment it is rapidly developing field of business.
Events
Crowd games are displayed in built-in large screens (such as Jumbotron) on stadiums and arenas.
Crowd games scale very well to different types of events. In order an event organizer to be able to play the crowd games, there needs to be certain basic video- and audio hardware on event site, such as video screen(s) and sound system. Audience must also be able to see the screen itself to fully participate in the game. Therefore, crowd games really are fairly suitable for events of all sizes.
Different sports events and other type of large-scale events, increasingly also festivals, may activate their audience with interactive games.
Game length and orientation
Games are typically divided into casual and core games. Crowd games lean heavily into the category of casual games with their simple and intuitive controls, popular themes and short duration.
Duration of crowd games varies, but mostly they include various short and compact missions. This is because the games are usually played during breaks, timeouts, and different kind of intermissions depending on the event nature.
Technological aspects
Currently there is no standard platform for audience games. Instead companies currently use custom made software and technology to run their games, which vary greatly in their level of sophistication and implementation.
Business aspects
Organization
Crowd games are usually organized through cooperation of different parties. This means that crowd games distribution methods and delivery to customers and event organizers differ greatly from those of normal video games.
Event sponsorship option
Due to their attention-catching interactive nature and high visibility, social crowd games are used increasingly as a new marketing means to activate and engage people in the events. As sponsors join the crowd game content, it becomes sponsored crowd entertainment.
Sponsored crowd entertainment is for the event sponsors an opportunity to join the crowd games content and audience activation with their own brand.

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