Playing across the playground: paradoxes of knowledge creation in the videogame firm PATRICK COHENDET 1 * AND LAURENT SIMON 2 1 BETA, Universite ´ Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, France, and HEC Montreal, Canada 2 HEC Montreal, Canada Summary This contribution illustrates how a videogame firm copes in managing creativity and expression of artistic values, while meeting the constraints of the economics of mass entertainment. The research is based on a case study in one of the largest video game studios in the world located in Montreal, Canada. The approach considers that the creative units of the firms are the communities of specialists (game developers, software programmers, etc.). Each of these communities, which have found a fertile soil in Montreal that nurtures their creative potential, is focused on both exploration and exploitation of a given domain of knowledge. In order to benefit from these sources of creativity, the integration forces implemented by the managers of the firm to bind the creative units together for achieving commercial successes reveal a hybrid form of project management which combines decentralized platforms with strict constraints on time, and a specific management of space that favors informal interactions. However, we suggest that the integration forces put forward by the firm are not just for harnessing creative units: they also generate creative slacks for further expansion of creativity. Copyright # 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Introduction The videogame industry has rapidly become a major player in the emerging category of ‘creative industries’ (Kinder, 1991; Sheff, 1994; Herman, 1999; Howkins, 2001). It produces influential cultural icons and best-selling products, already representing a substantial share of the entertainment business (Crandall & Sidak, 2006). The products of the video game industry captivate a whole generation (Beck & Wade, 2004; Herz, 1997; Kline, Dyer-Witheford, & de Peuter, 2003; Turkle, 1984). They also fascinate the business world by the upsurge of new profitable markets. As a cultural product, a video game is a complex mix of technology, art, and interactive story-telling. The technological part of the artefact should disappear beyond the magic of the scenario, the smooth- ness of controls and the realism of the simulation. Therefore, the generic videogame making involves the development and integration of a scenario, design of interactivity, programming activities, graphic arts, sound design, music, integration and tests/quality assessment. The videogame industry hires Journal of Organizational Behavior J. Organiz. Behav. 28, 587–605 (2007) Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI: 10.1002/job.460 * Correspondence to: Patrick Cohendet, Service des Affaires Internationales, HEC Montre ´al, 3000 Co ˆte-Ste-Catherine, Montre ´al (Qc.), H3T 2A7, Canada. E-mail: patrick.cohendet@hec.ca Copyright # 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.