How did games rise to become the central audiovisual form of expression and storytelling in digital culture? How did the methods of their artistic production emerge? And how did the scientific analysis of the social impact and cultural significance of this new medium take shape? This introduction takes a comprehensive look at these fundamental questions and aspects of digital game culture for the first time. Gundolf S. Freyermuth outlines the media-historical development phases of analog and digital games, the history and artistic practices of game design, as well as the history, scientific approaches, and key research questions of game studies.