Classifying the Game Industry 2

In the first part, I classified game companies within the game industry into

• Suppliers
• Publishers
• Distributors
• Retailers

After additional research, I see that I'm missing a few.

Suppliers must be split into

• Component suppliers: including miniature makers, book publishers, plastics and shipping companies, and so on
• Designers: including artists
• Consultants: agents, design, marketing, legal, etc

Additional segments include

• Information brokers: news sites, magazines, conventions, etc
• Hosts: Casinos, game stores, online play, conventions, etc

The number of companies that directly or indirectly support games (non-sports, non-digital, only) appears to run into the millions. When you add the conventional paper, plastics, marketing, shipping, loans, insurance, and other support industries to this (considering only game related work), the worldwide revenue from the table gaming industry is vastly under-estimated.

Overlaps

The game hobby also overlaps a number of other hobbies, at least as far as the industry is concerned. I already knew about toys, sports, gambling, puzzles, bar games, and video games, but add to the list dolls, modeling (miniatures are used equally for both gaming and modeling), remote controlled vehicles, kites, comics, branding (marketing and design), books, education (science, finance, math, history), magic, media entertainment (TV, video, and movie tie-ins), drinking and sex, divination and spirituality, therapy, souvenir/gift, art, craft, cultural heritage, and satire. At least.