Revenue in the Video Games market is projected to reach US$384.90bn in 2023 with an expected growth rate of 7.89%, resulting in a projected market volume of US$521.60bn by 2027. I think these figures speak for themselves. Let's have a look at where it all began.
It's genuinely astounding how far video games have come, and hard to believe Pong was all people had back then... Lets re-cap.
Gaming's Beginnings: Early Computer Games in the 1950s-1960s
With the development of large computer's, gaming started out on it's journey with computers laying the foundation for digital entertainment. Tennis for Two, appearing in 1958, was the first video game programmed purely for entertainment.
1960s: Along came Spacewar! and Mindframe Games
In 1962 Spacewar! was developed, one of the earliest video interactive games. This showed the potential for interactive graphic displays. Recognised as the first video game with multiple users taking 200 man hours to write. Steve Russell, the inventor of Spacewar, commented, “If I hadn’t done it, someone would’ve done something equally exciting, if not better, in the next six months. I just happened to get there first.”
1970s: Magnavox Odyssey, Birth of Consoles and Arcade Games
The arcade gaming industry gained momentum and it marked the beginning of the video game industry's rise to popularity.
Late in the 1970's saw the introduction of home video game console's like the Magnavox Odyssey created by Ralph Baer. It allowed the players to connect the consoles to a television and play a number of games including Pong.
1980s: Home Computers, Nintendo Entertainment Systems (NES) and the Golden Age
This era welcomed personal computers and characters like Mario and Zelda by NES. It's success led the way for subsequent generations of gaming consoles.
1990s: PC Gaming, 3D Graphics, Playstation and Beyond
Games called "Doom" and "Quake" with 3D graphics and immersive experiences made huge advancements in gaming technology with the ability to shoot at the computer screen. In 1994, Sony Playstation was released along with the Xbox continuing to push technological boundaries.
Broadcast 15 May 1996, Rory Cellan Jones visits the Dundee studios of DMA Design where artists, level designers, musicians and video game testers are hard at work developing an ambitious, and tonally very different follow-up: Grand Theft Auto for PC and Playstation.
Where the gaming industry perviously would of been a male dominated world we see an interview from Fiona from the testing department in the video. "The only woman in a room full of boys" having qualified in the field in college she went on to follow her own dream. Video game history is often told as a story of great men building an industry one game at a time. But women also designed, created, marketed, sold, and wrote about video games.
2000s: Online Gaming, Digital Era, mobile Gaming and Beyond
With high speed internet connections, multiplayer games such as "World of Warcraft" and digital distribution platforms like Steam transformed how games where accessed and played.
Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) like "World of Warcraft" (2004) gained immense popularity. Since the game's release in 2004, over 100 million accounts have been created, and Blizzard has been grossing roughly a billion dollars per year. It creates virtual worlds where players could interact with each other on a massive scale. Consoles also embraced online gaming, with Xbox Live and PlayStation Network offering multiplayer experiences and digital distribution of games.
Along came the smartphones with games like "Angry Birds" and "Candy Crush. As of 2021, Candy Crush reportedly has over 255 million users in 2023.
Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality (AR)
Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) have expanded gaming horizons, creating immersive experiences. Games like "Beat Saber" and "Half-Life: Alyx" highlight VR's potential. Esports, competitive gaming, also gains traction, drawing large audiences and significant prizes.
Conclusion
As I listen to my thirteen year old nephew in the next room talk to his friends in a different county playing Fortnight, I realise that communities that I was brought up in with face to face social clubs and hockey teams is not something that will be important to the young gamers of the future. While having dinner he chats about big players on Youtube and the millions of followers they have by playing new and existing games and how much possible revenue they are generating from YouTube. He conversationally shared "One person recently bought his own house at seventeen". In today's age of gaming that is a very normal thing to happen.
The digital landscape has undergone a seismic shift in the past few decades, and gaming stands out as both a driving force and a product of this transformation. Once considered a niche hobby, gaming has evolved into a multi-billion dollar industry that not only shapes entertainment but also influences technology, culture, and societal norms.
Bibliography
Google Arts and Culture (https://artsandculture.google.com/story/JwWBGJf3HpdoIg)
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