A few weeks ago, I was reading Me, Inc. in which Gene Simmons espoused the idea that companies are inherently judged and defined by the quality of their "star players". For example: Apple by Steve Jobs, Microsoft by Bill Gates, Virgin by Richard Branson. Without these key individuals, their respective companies would be a shell of their true selves, and would fail to achieve any degree of notoriety in their respective industry sectors. This concept holds true for football teams. It also holds true for videogame giants - ie Nintendo were defined by the efforts of Hiroshi Yamauchi and Shigeru Miyamoto, Sega by Yu Suzuki and Tetsuya Mizuguchi, Microsoft by Ed Fries, and Sony by Ken Kutaragi and Kaz Hirai.
In more modern times however, and with the emergence of the internet, entire organisations have been forced to change their business models, adapt, or fall by the wayside. This happened with Blockbuster in the face of digital streaming, and digital downloads also decimated the prestige and fortunes of HMV. Videogames retail is also undergoing tumultuous upheaval, with many bricks and mortars stores either being forced to close, or are being forced to pivot entirely and become online retailers. Indeed, Bill Gates supported this devel...