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The video game industry encompasses the
development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development hell, when a project is stuck in development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting *Development (music), the process thematic material is reshaped * Photograph ...
, marketing, and
monetization Monetization ( also spelled monetisation) is, broadly speaking, the process of converting something into money. The term has a broad range of uses. In banking, the term refers to the process of converting or establishing something into legal tend ...
of
video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...
. The
industry Industry may refer to: Economics * Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity * Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery * The wider industrial sector ...
encompasses dozens of
job Work or labor (or labour in British English) is intentional activity people perform to support the needs and wants of themselves, others, or a wider community. In the context of economics, work can be viewed as the human activity that contr ...
disciplines and thousands of jobs worldwide. The video game industry has grown from niches to mainstream. ,
video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
s generated annually in global sales. In the US, it earned about in 2007, in 2008, and 2010, according to the
ESA , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...
annual report. Research from Ampere Analysis indicated three points: the sector has consistently grown since at least 2015 and expanded 26% from 2019 to 2021, to a record ; the global games and services market is forecast to shrink 1.2% annually to in 2022; the industry is not recession-proof. The industry has influenced the advance of
personal computer A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tec ...
s with
sound card A sound card (also known as an audio card) is an internal expansion card that provides input and output of audio signals to and from a computer under the control of computer programs. The term ''sound card'' is also applied to external audio i ...
s,
graphics card A graphics card (also called a video card, display card, graphics adapter, VGA card/VGA, video adapter, display adapter, or mistakenly GPU) is an expansion card which generates a feed of output images to a display device, such as a computer moni ...
s and 3D graphic accelerators, CPUs, and co-processors like
PhysX PhysX is an open-source realtime physics engine middleware SDK developed by Nvidia as a part of Nvidia GameWorks software suite. Initially, video games supporting PhysX were meant to be accelerated by PhysX PPU (expansion cards designed by Ag ...
.
Sound card A sound card (also known as an audio card) is an internal expansion card that provides input and output of audio signals to and from a computer under the control of computer programs. The term ''sound card'' is also applied to external audio i ...
s, for example, were originally developed for games and then improved for the music industry.


Industry overview


Size

In 2017 in the United States, which represented about a third of the global video game market, the
Entertainment Software Association The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) is the trade association of the video game industry in the United States. It was formed in April 1994 as the Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA) and renamed on July 21, 2003. It is based in ...
estimated that there were over 2,300 development companies and over 525 publishing companies, including in hardware and software manufacturing, service providers, and distributors. These companies in total have nearly 66,000 direct employees. When including indirect employment, such as a developer using the services of a graphics design package from a different firm, the total number of employees involved in the video game industry rises above 220,000.


Value chain

Traditionally, the video game industry has had six connected layers in its
value chain A value chain is a progression of activities that a firm operating in a specific industry performs in order to deliver a valuable product (i.e., good and/or service) to the end customer. The concept comes through business management and was firs ...
based on the retail distribution of games: #
Game development Video game development (or gamedev) is the software development, process of developing a video game. The effort is undertaken by a video game developer, developer, ranging from a single person to an international team dispersed across the globe. ...
, representing programmers,
designers A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...
, and
artists An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, the ...
, and their leadership, with support of
middleware Middleware is a type of computer software that provides services to software applications beyond those available from the operating system. It can be described as "software glue". Middleware makes it easier for software developers to implement co ...
and other development tools. #
Publishing Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
, which typically include both the source of funding the development of a video game, as well as providing the marketing and advertising for a game. # Distribution, whether through retail or digital channels. Distribution typically includes manufacturing and duplication of game media and packaging for retail games. # Retailer, storefront where the game is sold. # Consumers, the purchasers and players of video games # Hardware platform manufacturers, which can own and place limitations for content on the platform they have made, charging license fees to developers or publishers. As games have transitioned from the retail to more digital market, parts of this value chain have become redundant. For example, the distributor may be redundant as a function of either the publisher or the retailer, or even in some cases as the case of
indie game An indie game, short for independent video game, is a video game typically created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A) games. ...
s, the function of the developer themselves.


Roles

Ben Sawyer of Digitalmill observes that the development side of the industry is made up of six connected and distinctive layers: # Capital and publishing layer: involved in paying for development of new games and seeking returns through licensing of the properties. # Product and talent layer: includes developers,
designers A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...
and
artists An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, the ...
, who may be working under individual contracts or as part of in-house development teams. # Production and tools layer: generates content production tools, game development
middleware Middleware is a type of computer software that provides services to software applications beyond those available from the operating system. It can be described as "software glue". Middleware makes it easier for software developers to implement co ...
, customizable game engines, and production management tools. # Distribution layer: or the "
publishing Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
" industry, involved in generating and marketing catalogs of games for retail and online distribution. # Hardware (or Virtual Machine or Software Platform) layer: or the providers of the underlying platform, which may be console-based, accessed through online media, or accessed through mobile devices such as
smartphones A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, which ...
. This layer includes network infrastructure and non-hardware platforms such as virtual machines (such as Java or Flash), or software platforms such as browsers or Facebook. # End-users layer: or the players of the games. The game industry employs those experienced in other traditional businesses, but some have experience tailored to the game industry. Some of the disciplines specific to the game industry include:
game programmer A game programmer is a software engineer, programmer, or computer scientist who primarily develops codebases for video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface ...
,
game designer Game design is the art of applying design and aesthetics to create a game for entertainment or for educational, exercise, or experimental purposes. Increasingly, elements and principles of game design are also applied to other interactions, in ...
,
level designer In video games, a level (also referred to as a map, stage, or round in some older games) is any space available to the player during the course of completion of an objective. Video game levels generally have progressively-increasing difficulty t ...
,
game producer A video game producer is the top person in charge of overseeing development of a video game. History The earliest documented use of the term ''producer'' in games was by Trip Hawkins, who established the position when he founded Electronic Arts ...
,
game artist Game art design is a subset of game development involving the process of creating the artistic aspects for video games. Video game art design begins in the pre-production phase of creating a video game. Video game artists are visual artists inv ...
, and
game tester Game testing, a subset of game development, is a software testing process for quality control of video games. Moore, Novak 2010, p. 95 Oxland 2004, p. 301-302 The primary function of game testing is the discovery and documentation of software d ...
. Most of these professionals are employed by
video game developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...
s or
video game publisher A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that have been developed either internally by the publisher or externally by a video game developer. They often finance the development, sometimes by paying a video game developer ( ...
s. However, many
hobby A hobby is considered to be a regular activity that is done for enjoyment, typically during one's leisure time. Hobbies include collecting themed items and objects, engaging in creative and artistic pursuits, playing Sport, sports, or pursu ...
ists also produce computer games and sell them commercially. Game developers and publishers sometimes employ those with extensive or long-term experience within the
modding ''Modding'' is a slang expression derived from the English verb " to modify". The term refers to modification of hardware, software, or anything else, to perform a function not originally intended by the designer, or to achieve bespoke specific ...
communities.


History


1940s–1960s

Prior to the 1970s, there was no significant commercial aspect of the video game industry, but many advances in computing would set the stage for the birth of the industry. Many early publicly available interactive computer-based game machines used or other mechanisms to mimic a display; while technically not "video games", they had elements of interactivity between the player and the machine. Some examples of these included the 1940 "Nimatron", an electromagnetic relay-based Nim-playing device designed by
Edward Condon Edward Uhler Condon (March 2, 1902 – March 26, 1974) was an American nuclear physicist, a pioneer in quantum mechanics, and a participant during World War II in the development of radar and, very briefly, of nuclear weapons as part of the ...
and built by
Westinghouse Electric The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was renamed "Westinghouse Electric Corporation" in ...
for the New York World's Fair, ''
Bertie the Brain ''Bertie the Brain'' was an early computer game, and one of the first games developed in the early history of video games. It was built in Toronto by Josef Kates for the 1950 Canadian National Exhibition. The four meter (13 foot) tall computer all ...
'', an arcade game of
tic-tac-toe Tic-tac-toe (American English), noughts and crosses (Commonwealth English), or Xs and Os (Canadian or Irish English) is a paper-and-pencil game for two players who take turns marking the spaces in a three-by-three grid with ''X'' or ''O''. T ...
, built by
Josef Kates Josef Kates, born ''Josef Katz'', (May 5, 1921 in Canada, – June 16, 2018) was a Canadian engineer whose achievements include designing the first digital game-playing machine, and the world's first automated traffic signalling system.Engelmann, ...
for the 1950
Canadian National Exhibition The Canadian National Exhibition (CNE), also known as The Exhibition or The Ex, is an annual event that takes place at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on the third Friday of August leading up to and including Canadian Labour Day, ...
, and
Nimrod Nimrod (; ; arc, ܢܡܪܘܕ; ar, نُمْرُود, Numrūd) is a biblical figure mentioned in the Book of Genesis and Books of Chronicles. The son of Cush and therefore a great-grandson of Noah, Nimrod was described as a king in the land of ...
created by engineering firm
Ferranti Ferranti or Ferranti International plc was a UK electrical engineering and equipment firm that operated for over a century from 1885 until it went bankrupt in 1993. The company was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The firm was known ...
for the 1951
Festival of Britain The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. Historian Kenneth O. Morgan says the Festival was a "triumphant success" during which people: ...
. The development of
cathode ray tube A cathode-ray tube (CRT) is a vacuum tube containing one or more electron guns, which emit electron beams that are manipulated to display images on a phosphorescent screen. The images may represent electrical waveforms ( oscilloscope), pictu ...
, the core technology inside televisions, created several of the first true video games. In 1947, Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann filed a patent for a "cathode ray tube amusement device". Their game, which uses a cathode ray tube hooked to an oscilloscope display, challenges players to fire a gun at target. Between the 1950s and 1960s, with mainframe computers becoming available to campus colleges, students and others started to develop games that could be played at terminals that accessed the mainframe. One of the first known examples is ''
Spacewar! ''Spacewar!'' is a space combat video game developed in 1962 by Steve Russell in collaboration with Martin Graetz, Wayne Wiitanen, Bob Saunders, Steve Piner, and others. It was written for the newly installed DEC PDP-1 minicomputer at the Mas ...
'', developed by Harvard and MIT employees Martin Graetz, Steve Russell, and Wayne Wiitanen. The introduction of easy-to-program languages like
BASIC BASIC (Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages designed for ease of use. The original version was created by John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz at Dartmouth College ...
for mainframes allowed for more simplistic games to be developed. The
arcade video game An arcade video game takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. Most arcade video games are coin-operated, housed in an arca ...
industry grew out of the pre-existing
arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade v ...
industry, which was previously dominated by
electro-mechanical games Electro-mechanical games (EM games) are types of arcade games that operate on a combination of some electronic circuitry and mechanical actions from the player to move items contained within the game's cabinet. Some of these were early light gun ...
(EM games). Following the arrival of
Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...
's EM game ''
Periscope A periscope is an instrument for observation over, around or through an object, obstacle or condition that prevents direct line-of-sight observation from an observer's current position. In its simplest form, it consists of an outer case with ...
'' (1966), the arcade industry was experiencing a "technological renaissance" driven by "audio-visual" EM novelty games, establishing the arcades as a healthy environment for the introduction of commercial video games in the early 1970s. In the late 1960s, a college student named
Nolan Bushnell Nolan Kay Bushnell (born February 5, 1943) is an American businessman and electrical engineer. He established Atari, Inc. and the Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre chain. He has been inducted into the Video Game Hall of Fame and the Consume ...
had a part-time job at an arcade where he became familiar with EM games such as
Chicago Coin Chicago Coin was one of the early major manufacturers of pinball tables founded in Chicago, Illinois. The company was founded in 1932 by Samuel H. Gensburg to operate in the coin-operated amusement industry. In 1977, Gary Stern and Sam Stern purc ...
's
racing game Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic rac ...
''Speedway'' (1969), watching customers play and helping to maintain the machinery, while learning how it worked and developing his understanding of how the game business operates.


1970s

In 1971, the first commercial
arcade video game An arcade video game takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. Most arcade video games are coin-operated, housed in an arca ...
, ''
Computer Space ''Computer Space'' is a space combat arcade game developed in 1971. Created by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney in partnership as Syzygy Engineering, it was the first arcade video game as well as the first commercially available video game. ''Comput ...
'', was released. The following year,
Atari, Inc. Atari, Inc. was an American video game developer and home computer company founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Atari was a key player in the formation of the video arcade and video game industry. Based primarily around the Sunny ...
released the first commercially successful video game, ''
Pong ''Pong'' is a table tennis–themed twitch arcade sports video game, featuring simple two-dimensional graphics, manufactured by Atari and originally released in 1972. It was one of the earliest arcade video games; it was created by Allan Alcor ...
'', and 19,000
arcade cabinet An arcade cabinet, also known as an arcade machine or a coin-op cabinet or coin-op machine, is the housing within which an arcade game's electronic hardware resides. Most cabinets designed since the mid-1980s conform to the Japanese Amusement Ma ...
s of the original arcade version were sold. In that year, video games were introduced to the home market with the release of the early
video game console A video game console is an electronic device that Input/output, outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home video game console, home consoles, which are generally placed i ...
, the
Magnavox Odyssey The Magnavox Odyssey is the first commercial home video game console. The hardware was designed by a small team led by Ralph H. Baer at Sanders Associates, while Magnavox completed development and released it in the United States in September ...
. However, both the arcade and home markets would be dominated by ''Pong'' clones, which flooded the market and led to the
video game crash of 1977 In the history of video games, the first generation era refers to the video games, video game consoles, and Handheld game console, handheld video game consoles available from 1972 to 1983. Notable consoles of the first generation include the Ody ...
. The crash eventually came to an end with the success of
Taito is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, toys, arcade cabinets and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, vending machines and jukeboxes into Japan. It b ...
's ''
Space Invaders is a 1978 shoot 'em up arcade game developed by Tomohiro Nishikado. It was manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and licensed to the Midway division of Bally for overseas distribution. ''Space Invaders'' was the first fixed shooter and set ...
'', released in 1978, inspiring the
golden age of video arcade games The golden age of arcade video games was the period of rapid growth, technological development and cultural influence of arcade video games, from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. The period began with the release of ''Space Invaders'' in 1978, ...
. The game's success prompted the prevalence of arcade machines in mainstream locations such as
shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...
s, traditional storefronts,
restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...
s, and
convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ticket ...
s during the golden age. More than 360,000 ''Space Invaders'' arcade cabinets were sold worldwide, and by 1982, generated a revenue of (equivalent to $ in ) in quarters, ''Space Invaders'' was soon licensed for the
Atari VCS The Atari 2600, initially branded as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) from its release until November 1982, is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977, it popularized microprocessor- ...
(later known as Atari 2600), becoming the first "
killer app In marketing terminology, a killer application (commonly shortened to killer app) is any computer program or software that is so necessary or desirable that it proves the core value of some larger technology, such as computer hardware, a video game ...
" and quadrupling the console's sales. The success of the Atari 2600 in turn revived the home video game market during the second generation of consoles, until the
video game crash of 1983 The video game crash of 1983 (known as the Atari shock in Japan) was a large-scale recession in the video game industry that occurred from 1983 to 1985, primarily in the United States. The crash was attributed to several factors, including ma ...
. By the end of the 1970s, the
personal computer game A personal computer game, also known as a PC game or computer game, is a type of video game played on a personal computer (PC) rather than a video game console or arcade machine. Its defining characteristics include: more diverse and user-deter ...
industry began forming from a hobby culture.


1980s

In the early 1980s, the
golden age of video arcade games The golden age of arcade video games was the period of rapid growth, technological development and cultural influence of arcade video games, from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. The period began with the release of ''Space Invaders'' in 1978, ...
reached its zenith. The total sales of
arcade video game An arcade video game takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. Most arcade video games are coin-operated, housed in an arca ...
machines in North America increased significantly during this period, from $50 million in 1978 to $900 million by 1981, with the arcade video game industry's revenue in North America tripling to $2.8 billion in 1980. By 1981, the arcade video game industry was generating an annual North American revenue of (equivalent to $ in ). In 1982, the arcade video game industry reached its peak, generating $8 billion in quarters, surpassing the annual gross revenue of both
pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...
($4 billion) and
Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...
films ($3 billion) combined. This was also nearly twice as much as the $3.8 billion generated by the home video game industry that year; both the arcade and home video game markets combined in 1982 total of (equivalent to $ in ). The arcade video game industry would continue to generate an annual revenue of $5 billion in quarters through to 1985. The most successful game of this era was
Namco was a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Na ...
's ''
Pac-Man originally called ''Puck Man'' in Japan, is a 1980 maze action video game developed and released by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. Th ...
'', released in 1980, of which more than 350,000 cabinets were eventually sold, and within a year, collected more than $1 billion in quarters; in total, ''Pac-Man'' is estimated to have grossed over 10 billion quarters ($2.5 billion) during the 20th century. In the early 1980s,
8-bit In computer architecture, 8-bit Integer (computer science), integers or other Data (computing), data units are those that are 8 bits wide (1 octet (computing), octet). Also, 8-bit central processing unit (CPU) and arithmetic logic unit (ALU) arc ...
home computing and home-made games boomed. This was especially in Europe (with the
ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as t ...
and
Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...
) and in Asia (with the NEC PC-88 and MSX).
Video game journalism Video game journalism is a branch of journalism concerned with the reporting and discussion of video games, typically based on a core "reveal–preview–review" cycle. With the prevalence and rise of independent media online, online publicat ...
arose at that time, which was later expanded to include
covermount Covermount (sometimes written cover mount) is the name given to storage media (containing software and or audiovisual media) or other products (ranging from toys to flip-flops) packaged as part of a magazine or newspaper. The name comes from the ...
ed cassettes and CDs. In 1983, the North American industry crashed due to the production of too many badly developed games (quantity over quality), resulting in the fall of the North American industry. The industry would eventually be revitalized by the release of the
Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...
, which resulted in the home console market being dominated by Japanese companies such as
Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...
, while a professional European video game industry also began taking shape with companies such as
Ocean Software Ocean Software Ltd was a British software development company that became one of the biggest European video game developers and video game publisher, publishers of the 1980s and 1990s. The company was founded by David Ward and Jon Woods and wa ...
and
Gremlin Interactive Gremlin Graphics Software Limited, later Gremlin Interactive Limited and ultimately Infogrames Studios Limited was a British software house based in Sheffield, working mostly in the home computer market. Like many software houses established in ...
. In 1987, Nintendo lost a legal challenge against
Blockbuster Entertainment Blockbuster LLC, formerly known as Blockbuster Video, was an American-based provider of home video and video game rental services. Services were offered primarily at video rental shops, but later alternatives included DVD-by-mail, streaming, ...
, which continued game rentals in the same way as movies. In 1989, the
Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same ...
handheld system was launched. Video games transitioned from having been showcased at general trade shows like
Consumer Electronics Show CES (; formerly an initialism for Consumer Electronics Show) is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Held in January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Winchester, Nevada, United States, the event typi ...
, to dedicated shows like
Nintendo Space World formerly named and was an annual video game trade show hosted by Nintendo from 1989 to 2001. Its three days of high-energy party atmosphere was the primary venue for Nintendo and its licensees to announce and demonstrate new consoles and game ...
and
Electronic Entertainment Expo E3 (short for Electronic Entertainment Expo or Electronic Entertainment Experience in 2021) is a trade event for the video game industry. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) organizes and presents E3, which many developers, publisher ...
.


1990s

Game related technology advances of the 1990s include these: * The "3D Revolution" where 3D polygon graphics became the ''
de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...
'' standard for video game visual presentation, initially in the arcades during the early 1990s, and then on home systems with 3D consoles and PC
graphics cards A graphics card (also called a video card, display card, graphics adapter, VGA card/VGA, video adapter, display adapter, or mistakenly GPU) is an expansion card which generates a feed of output images to a display device, such as a computer moni ...
in the mid-1990s. * The widespread adoption of CD-based storage and software distribution * Continuing advancement of CPU speed and sophistication * Widespread adoption of
GUI The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...
-based
operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...
s, such as the series of
Amiga OS AmigaOS is a family of proprietary native operating systems of the Amiga and AmigaOne personal computers. It was developed first by Commodore International and introduced with the launch of the first Amiga, the Amiga 1000, in 1985. Early versions ...
,
Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
and
Mac OS Two major famlies of Mac operating systems were developed by Apple Inc. In 1984, Apple debuted the operating system that is now known as the "Classic" Mac OS with its release of the original Macintosh System Software. The system, rebranded "M ...
* Shrinking of hardware, with
handheld game consoles A handheld game console, or simply handheld console, is a small, portable self-contained video game console with a built-in screen, game controls and speakers. Handheld game consoles are smaller than home video game consoles and contain the cons ...
and mobile phones, which enabled mobile gaming * The emergence of the Internet, which in the late 1990s enabled online cooperative play and competitive gaming Aside from technology, in the early part of the decade, brand licensing, licensed games became more popular, as did video game sequels. The arcades experienced a renaissance in the early 1990s following the release of ''Street Fighter II'' (1991), which led to a number of other popular fighting games such as ''Fatal Fury'' (1991) and ''Mortal Kombat'' (1992). The arcade resurgence was further driven by increasing realism, with the "3D Revolution" from 2D graphics, 2D and pseudo-3D graphics to true Real-time computer graphics, real-time 3D polygon graphics, following the release of games such as ''Virtua Racing'' (1992) and ''Virtua Fighter'' (1993). In the late 1990s, there was a transition away from arcades to home systems. Until about 1996-1997, arcade video games represented the largest sector of the global video game industry, before arcades declined and the console market surpassed arcade video games for the first time around 1997-1998. Arcade systems such as the Sega Model 3 remained more technologically advanced than home systems in the late 1990s, but the gap between arcade and home systems began narrowing in the late 1990s. The video game industry generated worldwide sales of in 1993 (equivalent to $ in ), in 1994 (equivalent to $ in ), and an estimated in 1998 (equivalent to $ in ). In the United States alone, in 1994, arcades generated in quarters while home console game sales generated Combined, this was nearly two and a half times the revenue generated by movies in the United States at the time.


2000s

In 2000s, the video game industry was in heavy development; profit still drove technological advancement used by other industry sectors. Technologies such as Smartphones, virtual reality, and augmented reality were major drivers for game hardware and gameplay development. Though maturing, the video game industry was still very volatile, with third-party video game developers quickly cropping up, and just as quickly, going out of business. Nevertheless, many casual games and
indie game An indie game, short for independent video game, is a video game typically created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A) games. ...
s became successful, such as ''Braid (video game), Braid'' and ''Limbo (video game), Limbo''. Game development for mobile phones (such as iOS and Android (operating system), Android devices) and social networking sites emerged. For example, a Facebook game developer, Zynga, raised more than $300 million.


2010s

Indie games are not the main driver but significantly impact the industry, such as ''Spelunky'', ''Fez (video game), Fez'', ''Don't Starve'', ''Castle Crashers'', and ''Minecraft'', with millions of United States dollar, dollars and users. In the 2010s, the shift increased to casual and mobile gaming, and in 2016, the mobile video game market was estimated at $38 billion in revenues, compared to $6 billion for the console market and $33 billion for personal computing gaming. Virtual reality and augmented reality games arose during this decade. As of 2014, newer game companies arose that vertically integrate live operations and publishing such as crowdfunding and other direct-to-consumer efforts, rather than relying on a traditional publishers, and some of these grew substantially. Spurred by some initial events in the late 2000s, eSports centered around professional players in organized competitions and leagues for prize money, grew greatly over this decade, drawing hundreds of millions of viewers and reaching nearly $500 million in revenue by 2016 and expected to break $1 billion by 2019.


2020s

The next generations of Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 were planned for 2020, but the video game industry was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic that had a worldwide impact starting in March 2020 due to forced stay-at-home orders by governmental regulations. There were similar impacts to the video game industry as with other industries, such as cancellation of in-person trade shows, conventions and esports events, and the delay of many games into late 2020, 2021, or beyond, and the industry was one of the few to actually thrive from a home-bound population using video games to cope. The market had a 20% year-to-year growth from 2019, reaching over in global revenue in both hardware and software for 2020. Easily learned games with high social interactions were popular, including ''Animal Crossing: New Horizons'', ''Fall Guys'', and ''Among Us''. As the pandemic wore on from 2020 into 2021, a secondary effect was the impact of the 2020–21 global chip shortage, global semiconductor chip shortage on hardware manufacturing. The three major console vendors, Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony, were impacted by availability of supply of core components, and for the latter two, limited the launch of their new consoles. The chip supply shortage also affected personal computer gamers, coupled with demand for computer parts to be used in cryptocurrency mining, which artificially raised prices and made it difficult to purchase newer components. However, after cryptocurrency mining started paying out less during and following the Cryptocurrency bubble, 2021–2022 cryptocurrency crash, computer parts such as Graphics processing unit, GPUs have become more affordable as of August 2022.


Economics

Early development costs were minimal, and video games could be quite profitable. Games developed by a single programmer, or by a small team of programmers and artists, could sell hundreds of thousands of copies each. Many of these games only took a few months to create, so developers could release multiple games per year. Thus, publishers could often be generous with benefits, such as royalties on the games sold. Many early game publishers started from this economic climate, such as Origin Systems, Sierra Entertainment, Capcom, Activision and Electronic Arts. As computing and graphics power increased, so too did the size of development teams, as larger staffs were needed to address the ever-increasing technical and design complexities. The larger teams consist of programmers, artists, game designers, and producers. Their salaries can range anywhere from $50,000 to $120,000 generating large labor costs for firms producing video games which can often take between one and three years to develop. Modern budgets typically reach millions of dollars and use
middleware Middleware is a type of computer software that provides services to software applications beyond those available from the operating system. It can be described as "software glue". Middleware makes it easier for software developers to implement co ...
and pre-built game engines. In addition to growing development costs, marketing budgets have grown dramatically, sometimes two to three times of the cost of development. Traditionally, the video game monetization method is to sell hard copies in retail store. Cheaper production and distribution methods include digital distribution, online distribution. In the 2010s, the video game industry had a major impact on the economy through the sales of major systems and games such as ''Call of Duty: Black Ops'', which had over $650 million of sales in the game's first five days and which set a five-day global record for a movie, book or video game. The game's income was more than the opening weekend of ''Spider-Man 3'' and the previous title holder for a video game ''Halo 3''. Many individuals have also benefited from the economic success of video games including the former chairman of
Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...
and Japan's third richest man: Hiroshi Yamauchi. By 2014, the global video game market was valued at over $93 billion. The industry wide adoption of high-definition graphics during the seventh generation of consoles greatly increased development teams' sizes and reduced the number of Triple A (gaming), high-budget, high-quality games under development. In 2013 Richard Hilleman of Electronic Arts estimated that only 25 developers were working on such games for the eighth console generation, compared to 125 at the same point in the seventh generation-console cycle seven or eight years earlier. By 2018, the United States video game industry had matched that of the United States film industry on basis of revenue, with both having made around that year. Since 2000, the video game industry was considered recession-proof, having thrived compared to other industries during the 2008 Great Recession, and as one of the more profitable industries during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Video games are seen as a low-cost vice and entertainment for consumers when approaching recession. However, in 2022, atop pandemic economic fallout including chip shortages, supply chain disruption, and consumers preferring outdoor activities, the industry started to indicate recession with global revenues falling for the first time in twenty years.


Retail

The industry's shift from brick and mortar retail to digital downloads led to a severe sales decline at video game retailers such as GameStop, following other media retailers superseded by Internet delivery, such as Blockbuster LLC, Blockbuster, Tower Records (music retailer), Tower Records, and Virgin Megastores. GameStop diversified its services by purchasing chains that repair wireless devices and expanding its trade-in program through which customers trade used games for credit towards new games. The company began to produce its own merchandise and games. In Britain, the games retailer Game (retailer), Game revamped its stores so customers would spend time playing games there. It built a gaming arena for events and tournaments. The shift to digital marketplaces, especially for smartphones, led to an influx of inexpensive and disposable games, and lower engagement among gamers who otherwise purchased new games from retail. Customers also shifted away from the tradition of buying games on their first day of release. Publishers often funded trade-in deals to encourage consumers to purchase new games. Trade-in customers at the Australia retailer Game would purchase twice the games per year as non-trade-in customers. The sale of pre-owned games kept retailers in business, and composed about a third of Game's revenue. Retailers also saved on the UK's value-added tax, which only taxed the retailer's profit on pre-owned games, rather than the full sale on regular games. The former trade-in retail executives behind the trade-in price comparison site Trade In Detectives estimated that the United Kingdom's trade-in industry was about a third of the size of its new games business. They figured that sites such as eBay, which convert used games into cash, compose about a quarter of the UK's trade-in market, but do not keep the credit within the industry. While consumers might appear to receive better offers on these sites, they also take about 15 percent of the selling price in fees. Alternatively, some retailers will match the trade-in values offered by their competitors. Microsoft's original plan for the Xbox One attempted to translate trade-in deals for the digital marketplace, with a database of product licenses that shops would be able to resell with publisher permission, though the plan was poorly received or poorly sold.


Practices

Video game industry practices are similar to those of other entertainment industries (e.g., the recording industry, music recording industry), but the video game industry in particular has been accused of treating its development talent poorly. This promotes independent development, as developers leave to form new companies and projects. In some notable cases, these new companies grow large and impersonal, having adopted the business practices of their forebears, and ultimately perpetuate the cycle. However, unlike the music industry, where modern technology has allowed a fully professional product to be created extremely inexpensively by an independent musician, modern games require increasing amounts of manpower and equipment. This dynamic makes video game publisher, publishers, who fund the video game developer, developers, much more important than in the music industry.


Breakaways

In the video game industry, it is common for developers to leave their current studio and start their own. A particularly famous case is the "original" independent developer Activision, founded by former Atari developers. Activision grew to become the world's second largest game publisher. In the meantime, many of the original developers left to work on other projects. For example, founder Alan Miller (game designer), Alan Miller left Activision to start another video game development company, Accolade (company), Accolade (now Atari née Infogrames). Activision was popular among developers for giving them credit in the packaging and title screens for their games, while Atari disallowed this practice. As the video game industry took off in the mid-1980s, many developers faced the more distressing problem of working with fly-by-night or unscrupulous publishers that would either fold unexpectedly or run off with the game profits.


Piracy

The industry claims software piracy to be a big problem, and take measures to counter this. Digital rights management have proved to be the most unpopular with gamers, as a measure to counter piracy. The most popular and effective strategy to counter piracy is to change the business model to freemium, where gamers pay for their in-game needs or service. Strong server-side security is required for this, to properly distinguish authentic transactions from Cheating in video games, hacked transactions.


Creative control

On various Internet forums, some gamers have expressed disapproval of publishers having creative control since publishers are more apt to follow short-term market trends rather than invest in risky but potentially lucrative ideas. On the other hand, publishers may know better than developers what consumers want. The relationship between video game developers and publishers parallels the relationship between Recording Artists' Coalition, recording artists and RIAA, record labels in many ways. But unlike the music industry, which has seen flat or declining sales in the early 2000s, the video game industry continues to grow. In the computer games industry, it is easier to create a startup, resulting in many successful companies. The video game console, console industry is more closed, and a game developer must have up to three licenses from the console manufacturer: # A license to develop games for the console # The publisher must have a license to publish games for the console # A separate license for each game In addition, the developer must usually buy development systems from the console manufacturer in order to even develop a game for consideration, as well as obtain concept approval for the game from the console manufacturer. Therefore, the developer normally has to have a publishing deal in place before starting development on a game project, but in order to secure a publishing deal, the developer must have a track record of console development, something which few startups will have.


Alternatives

An alternative method for publishing video games is to self-publish using the shareware or Open-source software, open source model over the Internet.


Gaming conventions

Gaming conventions are an important showcase of the industry. The major annual video game conventions include Gamescom in Cologne (Germany), the Electronic Entertainment Expo, E3 in Los Angeles (USA), the Penny Arcade Expo, and :Video game conventions, others.


Regional distribution

As with other forms of media, video games have often been released in different world regions at different times. The practice has been used where video game localization, localization is not done in parallel with the rest of development or where the game must be encoded differently, as in PAL vs. NTSC. It has also been used to provide price discrimination in different markets or to focus limited marketing resources. Developers may also stagger digital releases so as not to overwhelm the servers hosting the game.


International practices

The video game industry had its primary roots in the United States following the introduction of arcade games and console systems, with Japan soon following. With the introduction of the personal computer, Western Europe also became a major center for video game development. Since then, the industry is primarily led by companies in North American, Europe, and Japan, but other regions, including Australia/New Zealand, and other southeast Asian countries including China and South Korea, have become significant sectors for the industry.


World trends

International video game revenue is estimated to be $81.5B in 2014. This is more than double the revenue of the international film industry in 2013. In 2015, it was estimated at . The largest nations by estimated video game revenues in 2016 are China ($24.4B), the United States ($23.5B) and Japan ($12.4B). The largest regions in 2015 were Asia-Pacific ($43.1B), North America ($23.8B), and Western Europe ($15.6B). In 2018, the global video games market was valued at around $134.9bn.


Largest markets

According to market research firm Newzoo, the following countries are the largest video game markets by annual revenue, . In general, spending on gaming tends to increase with increase in nominal GDP. However, gaming is relatively more popular in East Asia, and relatively less popular in India.


North America


Canada

Canada has the third largest video game industry in terms of employment numbers. The video game industry has also been booming in Montreal since 1997, coinciding with the opening of Ubisoft Montreal. Recently, the city has attracted world leading game developers and publishers studios such as Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, EA, Eidos Interactive, Artificial Mind and Movement, BioWare, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Strategy First, mainly because video games jobs have been heavily subsidized by the provincial government. Every year, this industry generates billions of dollars and thousands of jobs in the Montreal area. Vancouver has also developed a particularly large business cluster, cluster of
video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
developers, the largest of which, Electronic Arts, employs over two thousand people. The ''Assassin's Creed'' series, along with the ''Tom Clancy'' series have all been produced in Canada and have achieved worldwide success. For consumers, the largest video games convention in Canada is the Enthusiast Gaming Live Expo (EGLX).


United States

The video game industry got its start in the United States in the late 1970s and early 1980s with the creation of arcade games like ''
Pong ''Pong'' is a table tennis–themed twitch arcade sports video game, featuring simple two-dimensional graphics, manufactured by Atari and originally released in 1972. It was one of the earliest arcade video games; it was created by Allan Alcor ...
'' and the first home console, the
Magnavox Odyssey The Magnavox Odyssey is the first commercial home video game console. The hardware was designed by a small team led by Ralph H. Baer at Sanders Associates, while Magnavox completed development and released it in the United States in September ...
. Several factors, including loss of publishing control, a flooded market, and competition from personal computers, led to the 1983 video game crash in the U.S., affecting both arcades and home game systems. Nintendo's introduction of the Nintendo Entertainment System helped to revitalize the industry, but until Microsoft's introduction of the Xbox in the early 2000s, the hardware side was dominated by mostly Japanese-developed systems. Instead, much of the industry's growth in the U.S. was on game development, implementing new game technologies and gameplay concepts, as well as creating the large-scale publisher model used by companies like Electronic Arts to support marketing and distribution of games. The United States has the largest video games presence in the world in terms of total industry employees. In 2017, the U.S. game industry as a whole was worth US$18.4 billion and consisted of roughly 2457 companies that had a rough total of 220,000 people employed. U.S. video game revenue is forecast to reach $230 billion by 2022, making it the largest video game market in the world. Over 150 million Americans play video games, with an average age of 35 and a gender breakdown of 59 percent male and 41 percent female. American gamers are more likely to vote than non-gamers, feel that the economy is the most important political issue, and lean conservative, however party demographics are split evenly with 38% identifying as Democrats, 38% identifying as Republicans, and 24% identifying as Independents.


Europe


Germany

Germany has the largest video games market in Europe, with revenues of $4.1 billion forecast for 2017. The annual Gamescom in Cologne is Europe's largest video game expo. One of the earliest internationally successful video game companies was Gütersloh-based Rainbow Arts (founded in 1984) who were responsible for publishing the popular ''Turrican'' series of games. The Anno (series), Anno series and The Settlers, The Settlers series are globally popular strategy game franchises since the 1990s. The Gothic series, SpellForce: The Order of Dawn, SpellForce and Risen (video game), Risen are established RPG franchises. The X (game series), X series by Egosoft is the best-selling space simulation. The FIFA Manager (video game series), FIFA Manager series was also developed in Germany. The German action game Spec Ops: The Line (2012) was successful in the markets and received largely positive reviews. One of the most famed game from Germany is ''Far Cry'' (2004) by Frankfurt-based Crytek, who also produced the topseller ''Crysis'' and its sequels later. Other well-known current and former developers from Germany include Ascaron, Blue Byte, Deck13, EA Phenomic, Piranha Bytes, Radon Labs, Related Designs, Spellbound Entertainment and Yager Development. Publishers include Deep Silver (Plaion), dtp entertainment, Kalypso Media and Nintendo Europe. Bigpoint Games, Gameforge, Goodgame Studios and Wooga are among the world's leading browser game and social network game developers/distributors.


United Kingdom

The United Kingdom, UK industry is the third largest in the World in terms of developer success and sales of hardware and software by country alone but fourth behind Canada in terms of people employed. The size of the UK game industry is comparable to its film or music industries. Like most European countries, the UK entered the video game industry through personal computers rather than video game consoles. Low-cost computers like the
ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as t ...
and Amiga 500 led to numerous "bedroom coders" that would make and sell games through mail-order or to distributors that helped to mass-produce them. Coupled with quirky british humour, the "Britsoft" wave of popular games led to a number of influential people and studios in the 1990s. As game programming became more complex and costly in the early 2000s, more traditional studio structures arose to support both personal computers and consoles, with several studios that, in some form or another, remain highly regarded and influential in the present. Some of the studios have become defunct or been purchased by larger companies such as ''LittleBigPlanet'' developer, Media Molecule and Codemasters. The country is home to some of the world's most successful video game franchises, such as ''Tomb Raider'', ''Grand Theft Auto'', ''Fable (video game series), Fable'', ''Colin McRae: Dirt, Colin McRae Dirt'' and ''Total War (video game series), Total War''. The country also went without tax relief until March 21, 2012 when the British government changed its mind on tax relief for UK developers, which without, meant most of the talented development within the UK may move overseas for more profit, along with parents of certain video game developers which would pay for having games developed in the UK. The industry trade body TIGA estimates that it will increase the games development sector's contribution to UK GDP by £283 million, generate £172 million in new and protected tax receipts to HM Treasury, and could cost just £96 million over five years. Before the tax relief was introduced there was a fear that the UK game industry could fall behind other leading game industries around the world such as France and Canada, of which Canada overtook the UK in terms of job numbers in the industry in 2010.


Asia


China

China had not been a major factor in the global video game market early on due to economic factors, governmental oversight, and a black market for foreign products. The government initiated a ban on video game consoles in 2000 that lasted through 2014, during which China's video game market grew for personal computer games, particularly subscription-based and microtransaction-based ones that were amenable to use in PC cafes, and later into mobile games. Media publishers like Tencent and NetEase focused on these types of games, growing successfully during the 2010s to become leading international companies. As of 2015, China's video game market revenue exceeds that of the United States, and is the largest country by both revenue and number of players. China is also the largest contributor towards esports in both revenue and in the number of professional players from the country. The industry, like most media in China, is tightly controlled by the government, with strong restrictions on what content may be in games, and incorporation of anti-addiction measures to limit playtime. It is home to Asia Game Show, the largest game convention in the world by attendance.


Japan

The Japanese video game industry is markedly different from the industry in North America, Europe and Australia. Japan initially trailed the United States in entering the video game sector as its companies followed trends set by their American partners, but started to pioneer their own ideas soon after. Several Japanese-developed arcade games, such as ''
Space Invaders is a 1978 shoot 'em up arcade game developed by Tomohiro Nishikado. It was manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and licensed to the Midway division of Bally for overseas distribution. ''Space Invaders'' was the first fixed shooter and set ...
'', helped to usher in the golden age of arcade video games from 1978 to 1982. The 1983 video game crash that affected the North American market did have small but short-term effects in Japan, as most companies involved in the business were well-established and could weather the disruption.
Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...
took the opportunity to push the
Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...
, a rebranding of its Famicom system, into the Western markets after the crash, implementing technical and business practices to avoid the factors that created the 1983 crash but also secured its control on what games were published for the system. Japan became the dominant home for consoles and console games through the early 2000s, challenged only by the incorporation of large publishers in the West and the Xbox line of consoles from Microsoft. Nintendo along with companies like
Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...
, Sony Interactive Entertainment, and Capcom are dominant leaders in the Japanese video game industry. Nintendo themselves are recognized for having created some of the most positively-reviewed and best-selling video game series such as ''Mario'', ''Donkey Kong'', ''The Legend of Zelda'', ''Metroid'' and ''Pokémon''. In recent years, video game console, consoles and arcade games have both been overtaken by downloadable free-to-play games on the PC game, PC and Mobile game, mobile platforms.


South Korea

The video game industry in South Korea generally followed the same early trends as the Japanese market, but players started focusing on massively-multiplayer online games (MMO) and other games that could be played at PC bangs (Internet cafes). South Korea was one of the first major regions involved in esports in the 1990s and 2000s, and today a large number of professional esports players originate from South Korea.


India

Video gaming in India is an emerging market since India is experiencing strong growth in online gaming, making it one of the top gaming markets in the world. Over the past few decades, the Indian gaming industry has gone from close to nonexistent in the 1990s to one of the top markets globally in the late 2010s. In 2019, the Online game, online gaming market in India was estimated at with an estimated 300 million gamers, a 41.6% increase from 2018. As of 2021, it is one of the top five Mobile game, mobile gaming markets in the world. The industry is projected to reach 510 million gamers by 2022.


Others


Africa

The video game industry is still in its infancy throughout the African continent, but due to the continent's young population and increasing technological literacy, the sector is growing rapidly. African countries such as video gaming in South Africa, South Africa, video gaming in Nigeria, Nigeria, and video gaming in Kenya, Kenya have been making rapid advances in mobile gaming, mobile game development, both within their country and internationally, but due to limited funding and a market overcrowded with Western games, success has thus far been minimal.


Australia and New Zealand

Australia and New Zealand have an active video game industry, with several standalone developers as well as additional studios from other major developers across the globe.


Conventions, trade shows, and conferences

Gaming conventions are an important showcase of the industry. These typically provide the means for developers and publishers to demonstrate their games directly to video game players and consumers and obtain feedback. New games are frequently introduced during these events. Some examples of each conventions include the annual Gamescom in Cologne, and numerous PAX (event), PAX events. Some publishers, developers and technology producers also have their own regular conventions, with BlizzCon, QuakeCon, Nvision and the X (Xbox show), X shows being prominent examples. National trade groups that support their local video game industry often will hold trade shows aimed for developers and publishers to interact more directly with the video game media, and with retailers and distributors for planning future sales of products. The largest such trade show is the Electronic Entertainment Expo, E3 in Los Angeles, California is held by the
Entertainment Software Association The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) is the trade association of the video game industry in the United States. It was formed in April 1994 as the Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA) and renamed on July 21, 2003. It is based in ...
. Other similar trade shows include Tokyo Game Show (Japan), Brasil Game Show (Brazil), EB Games Expo (Australia), Russian Game Developers Conference, KRI (Russia), China Digital Entertainment Expo & Conference, ChinaJoy (China) and the annual Game Developers Conference. The development of video games is also a topic of academic and professional interest, leading to a number of Academic conference, conferences for developers to share their knowledge with others. Two of the major professional conferences include the Game Developers Conference (GDC), which holds multiple events through the year but with its main annual conference held in March in San Francisco, and the D.I.C.E. Summit run by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences in February of each year at Las Vegas, Nevada.


Media coverage and archiving

The coverage of the video game industry started off with several magazines covering the topic, but as the Internet became widely available to support new media, much of the dedicated coverage of the video game industry has transitioned to detected websites, including ''Gamasutra'', ''IGN'', ''Eurogamer'', ''Polygon (website), Polygon'' and ''GameSpot''. More recently, the effect of Internet celebrity, social media influencers, video game players that create online videos or stream themselves playing games through services like Twitch (service), Twitch, have also become a significant source for coverage of video game news from the consumer point of view. Another facet of tracking the history of the video game industry is video game preservation, a process that is complicated due to game hardware technology that can become obsolete, dependencies on decommissioned online servers, and issues over intellectual property that legally restricts preservation efforts. Much of the industry's history prior to the 1983 crash has been lost, as companies affected by the crash simply threw material away, leaving little to recover today. There is better awareness of video game preservation into the 21st century, and several groups and museums have been established to collect and preserve hardware and software for the industry.


Recognition within the industry

The video game industry has a number of annual award ceremonies, commonly associated with the above conventions, trade shows, and conferences, as well as standalone award shows. Many of the dedicated video game journalism websites also have their own set of awards. Most commonly, these ceremonies are capped by the top prize, the "List of Game of the Year awards, Game of the Year".


Trends

Players become fourth-party developers, allowing for more Open-source software, open source models of game design, development and engineering. Players also create Mod (computer gaming), modifications (mods), which in some cases become just as popular as the original game for which they were created. An example of this is the game ''Counter-Strike (video game), Counter-Strike'', which began as a mod of the video game ''Half-Life (video game), Half-Life'' and eventually became a very successful, published game in its own right. While this "community of modifiers" may only add up to approximately 1% of a particular game's user base, the number of those involved will grow as more games offer modifying opportunities (such as, by releasing source code) and the video user base swells. According to Ben Sawyer, as many as 600,000 established online game community developers existed as of 2012. This effectively added a new component to the Video game industry#Game industry value chain, game industry value chain and if it continues to mature, it will integrate itself into the overall industry. The industry has seen a shift towards games with Multiplayer video game, multiplayer facilities. A larger percentage of games on all types of platforms include some type of competitive online multiplayer capability. In addition, the industry is experiencing further significant change driven by convergence, with technology and player comfort being the two primary reasons for this wave of industry convergence. Video games and related content can now be accessed and played on a variety of media, including: cable television, dedicated consoles, handheld devices and smartphones, through social networking sites or through an ISP, through a game developer's website, and online through a game console and/or home or office personal computer. In fact, 12% of U.S. households already make regular use of game consoles for accessing video content provided by online services such as Hulu and Netflix. In 2012, for the first time, entertainment usage passed multiplayer game usage on Xbox, meaning that users spent more time with online video and music services and applications than playing multiplayer games. This rapid type of industry convergence has caused the distinction between video game console and personal computers to disappear. A game console with high-speed microprocessors attached to a television set is, for all intents and purposes, a computer and monitor. As this distinction has been diminished, players' willingness to play and access content on different platforms has increased. The growing video gamer demographic accounts for this trend, as former president of the Entertainment Software Association Douglas Lowenstein explained at the 10th E3 expo, "Looking ahead, a child born in 1995, E3's inaugural year, will be 19 years old in 2014. And according to Census Bureau data, by the year 2020, there will be 174 million Americans between the ages of 5 and 44. That's 174 million Americans who will have grown up with PlayStations, Xboxes, and GameCubes from their early childhood and teenage years...What this means is that the average gamer will be both older and, given their lifetime familiarity with playing interactive games, more sophisticated and discriminating about the games they play." Evidence of the increasing player willingness to play video games across a variety of media and different platforms can be seen in the rise of casual gaming on smartphones, tablets, and social networking sites as 92% of all smartphone and tablet owners play games at least once a week, 45% play daily, and industry estimates predict that, by 2016, one-third of all global mobile video game revenue will come from tablets alone. Apple's App Store alone has more than 90,000 game apps, a growth of 1,400% since it went online. In addition, game revenues for iOS and Android mobile devices now exceed those of both Nintendo and Sony handheld video game systems combined.


See also

* List of video games *List of video game websites *Hollywood and the video game industry


References


Further reading

*


External links


comp.games.development.industry
(Google Groups)
International Game Developers Association
(Cambridge University Press)
Sloperama: Game Biz Advice
(Tom Sloper) {{Authority control Video game industry, Economics of the arts and literature Entertainment industry Mass media industry Industries (economics)