Video games have been around us for decades already, and they are still taking their place, providing entertainment for children and adults. They have evolved significantly compared back to the days when we had pixelated screens and limited sounds.
Nowadays, with all the new technology, video games become more lifelike than ever before. As technology continues to improve, so do video games.
Is Gaming Industry Crashing – What’s Ahead For Gaming Industry?
Video Game Industry Overview
Gaming is defined as playing electronic games conducted through multiple varieties of means, such as through the use of computers, smartphones, and consoles.
Video game creation has become increasingly complex nowadays, and the cost of one game and running it on one of the consoles has risen together with this complexity.
The games today can cost tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars, which means this has pushed the game development into Hollywood movie territory in terms of production and marketing costs. Unbelievably, the video game industry is that large, that in fact is larger than the movie and music industries together and it never stops growing.
The point is that the game industry, unfortunately, doesn’t get the same attention as the movie and music industries, because to the latest reports there are almost two billion gamers across the world which is nearly 25% of the world’s population
Whit this non-stop growing speed, everyone wants to take a piece of the pie. The Gaming Market was valued at $198.40 billion in 2021, and it is expected to reach a value of $339.95 billion by 2027, registering a CAGR of 8.94% over 2022-2027.
As such, tech companies are looking to get involved in the revenue stream. Tech giants such as Google, Meta, Facebook, and Apple have already made plans to enter the video game industry.
These big companies in the tech industry, are looking for ways to make video game streaming as natural as streaming a song on Spotify or a movie on Netflix.
As we know, Microsoft has been in the industry for so long already with its Xbox console, introduced Project xCloud which is a video game streaming service that allows users to stream Microsoft’s Xbox games to PCs and other devices.
Also, Meta began developing a gaming platform back in 2016 with Unity Technologies, which was an excellent guide for the game development framework for people to make video games. The main target for all of the companies is to allow players to stream video games without the need for a computer or a video game console.
They believe that the subscription streaming services are the future of the video games industry and will benefit all who are involved in.
Impact of the Pandemic
The Growth of the video game industry in the past period during the pandemic, in many ways reflected on human behavior.
While everyone was locked in their homes, there was nothing better to play some games and have fun with friends, pass the time, and spend discretionary income no longer on night outs and vacations, but instead on some of your favorite games. This made the game industry to grown even more in such a short period.
But lately, the growth hasn’t been replicable during this period of the pandemic, as the people reacquainted with leaving their homes, going back to their offices, and traveling more often.
Because of this, the video game industry has to realize what is going to be toward a post-pandemic future that recognizes what worked during the pandemic, and what could work even more after that.
Even now, there are more and more investors and the game industry has emerged as one of the hottest investment markets in the world over the past few months, with a record $70 billion in deals across nearly 1.000 transactions.
Expanding
Another popular trend that is taking big attention is the expansion of the market as far as demographics, pointing at the people who are playing games both earlier and later in life. This industry is slowly but surely becoming a trend for the senior citizens who might have plenty of free time and why not enjoy some fun video games.
Video games are so popular on a mass scale that many players stream videos of themselves playing their favorite video game at home and make hundreds and thousands of dollars from that.
Future of the industry
The video game industry is always following innovations, and new technology, new controls, and new experiences are to be expected the entire time. This industry is clearly among the largest and most powerful entertainment sectors in the world and doesn’t plan to stop here. It will grow even more as people play games.
The most wondering change in the video game industry is going to be the expanding demographics of gamers. With more people playing around the world, from children to seniors, there are games for all of them, creating a demand for more immersive entertainment, the video game industry is clearly on the bright way!
