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- The Video Game Industry (VGI) first emerged in the 1970s and 1980s, predominantly distributing its products through arcades and had relatively humble beginnings. However, since then, the industry has evolved into the largest and fastest growing sector in the entertainment industry, eclipsing both the film and music industries.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772503023000609Unravelling the complexity of the Video Game Industry: An ...
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Nov 27, 2020 · In 2020, the global gaming industry's revenue is set to hit $165 billion, with 2.7 billion gamers worldwide today. The charts below explore how the industry has changed and grown since the 70s. Gaming has become big money in the past fifty years.
- Omri Wallach
1970s: The birth of gaming. After the release of Computer Space, many more games were produced over the decade. The most well-known was Pong, which, while very primitive by the standards of...
- Representatives from Xbox, Blizzard, Gearbox, Google, Niantic and more weigh in.
- Democratisation
- Mobile Gaming and Diversification
- Mobile Gaming and the Death of Diversity
- Digital Distribution
- Ubiquitous Online
- Free to Play and Games as a Service
- The Rise of Streaming and Let’s Plays
- The Power of Celebrity
- Cross-Platform Play
By Cam Shea
Updated: Jul 20, 2020 7:23 am
Posted: Jun 1, 2020 3:30 am
Ten years ago, we published two roundtable features on IGN; one that asked a broad panel of industry insiders to look back at the decade leading up to 2010 and one that charged them with prognosticating on what they thought gaming would be like in 2020. (We recently took a look at how accurate those predictions proved to be.)
We’ve now pulled together a new panel of more than 30 industry veterans to recreate the same concept, with everything from indie to triple A, mobile to PC, and casual to core covered off. In this feature our panel answers two questions looking back at the last ten years. (In separate features they also revealed their favourite games of the last decade, and what gaming in 2030 might be like.)
Please note that we haven’t included all responses, and some responses have been edited for length. Responses have also been grouped into broad themes.
Tanya X. Short, Co-Founder, Kitfox Games (Moon Hunters): Creating video games has become much, much more accessible. It used to be that games were all made by people who as children happened to take an interest in programming. A few newbie-friendly engines were around ten years ago, but now they've been normalized and rightly celebrated. With all the resources available both online and the variety of tools, you can literally have no experience with programming, and wake up one morning wanting to make a game, and have something playable by dinner. Heck, lunch, depending on when you tend to wake up in the morning. This accessibility has made game development and games themselves much more diverse, but it's also ratcheted up the competition, in the indie and mid-tier space.
Andy Sum, Director, Hipster Whale (Crossy Road): Every step in the chain from creating to publishing a game has become more accessible. Unity and Unreal are now both free to use and the rapid increase in user generated content means that there's more tutorials and information on how to start creating games. Because of this, over the past ten years, there have been more games created and many new people involved in the video game industry.
Distribution has changed to keep up with this too. Steam opened up Greenlight, Early Access, and then Steam Direct. Crowdfunding like Kickstarter has also helped fund many developer's projects. Multiple digital stores have appeared worldwide.
Hollow Knight started out as a Kickstarter project.
Ville Heijari, CMO, Rovio (Angry Birds): So many things have evolved radically around gaming, and listing the significant ones is quite a challenge. There's the growing popularity of esports, the massive phenomenon of streaming, and so forth. Looking from a Rovio perspective, it's obviously the ridiculously rapid adoption of smartphones as the everyday entertainment platform, but specifically the sensational growth of mobile gaming, which now represents (based on combined smartphone and tablet game revenues) 45% of the global games market. Sure, the iPhone and Android launched in the previous decade already, but the past ten years have represented the lightspeed growth and coming of age for the mobile games industry.
Jodie Azhar, Game Director, Teazelcat Games: The surge in mobile gaming has definitely changed the industry. We’re seen new game genres emerge and new monetisation models become prevalent. But most importantly it’s hugely increased the access to games for the wider population. Rather than having to buy specialist hardware to play games, they’re easily accessible from a device that most of us now already own. So many people now play some kind of video game, whether for five minutes or five hours a day, and we’re accepting them more as a part of life.
Ryozo Tsujimoto, Producer, Monster Hunter series: I think it has to be smartphones and the resulting diversification of the gaming audience and gaming life. There were social games before, but I think it’s only in the last decade that they have really taken off. We can now play everything from meaty console and PC gaming experiences to more casual games that we can pick up and play in a spare moment on the go. Gaming genres have diversified, and we’ve had an increase in the number of players on the casual end of the spectrum.
"Gaming genres have diversified, and we’ve had an increase in the number of players on the casual end of the spectrum." - Ryozo Tsujimoto, Capcom
Yoko Taro, Director, NieR: Automata: I think it's “the death of diversity, brought on by the rise of the flat-screen smartphone”. The iPhone's design of “touching the screen with your finger” is a simple and well-made UI, and all smartphones in the world (the most common gadget in the world) have been unified to “a flat screen that you touch with your finger”.
On the other hand, all other inputs using pens or buttons have become extinct, and smartphone games are (almost) limited to “games that you touch”, despite being the biggest gaming market. I feel that it was an example of an advanced design that revolutionised the world yet took away diversity from the world.
Phil Harrison, Vice President and GM, Google (Stadia): I think without a doubt, one of the most important changes in our industry has been the rise of networks as a distribution methodology for the games people want. In particular, the app stores on iOS and Android allowed the games industry to go from being tens of millions of gamers to hundreds of millions... and now billions of gamers. The biggest fuel of economic growth has been mobile.
But as it relates to PC and console, the rise of digital distribution led to improved access to games, without requiring a trip to your local retailer. On the whole, it has been a very healthy positive trend for creativity in the industry. Games that would not otherwise have been made or had the right distribution. Of course this was an incredible opportunity for independent developers, using that new distribution to reach audiences they wouldn’t have before.
Jeremiah Slaczka, Co-Founder and Creative Director, 5th Cell (Scribblenauts): Easily the most important is the proliferation of digital platforms. It completely reinvented the landscape of games. From mobile games, to the indie scene to even the rise and fall of Facebook games. The old gatekeeper that held control over what games got distributed no longer exist and have allowed a golden age of development. Of course, some of those things were abused like free to play and loot boxes, but overall it’s been a wonderful time to both make and play games.
Rebecca Ford, Live Operations and Community Director, Digital Extremes (Warframe): The means of distribution has been one of the most important changes – the mobile app stores setting the pace for ‘instant digital access’, and major platforms following suit. The physical market is one for collectors, the digital market is one for convenience. Distribution changes have had a bigger impact than anything else. We at Warframe are working on a seven-year-old game and not once has anyone physically touched our game – our success is all ones and zeroes.
"We at Warframe are working on a seven-year-old game and not once has anyone physically touched our game—our success is all ones and zeroes." - Rebecca Ford, Digital Extremes
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Kellee Santiago, Head of Developer Relations, Niantic, Inc. (Pokemon GO): Certainly, faster and more accessible internet connections. It powered the breadth and depth of online multiplayer gaming which has exploded in the last decade. It enables real-world games like Pokemon GO! It also led to new ways of gamers and game makers interacting with each other through streaming, play through commentary, and the live-streaming of actual development. And it supports the continued growth of online distribution of video games, which means instead of competing for a miniscule number of slots of a shelf in a retail store, anyone can distribute their game to anywhere.
On the flip side, we saw the Indie-pocalypse happen, when there became so many games released every day it was hard for an independent developer to stand out. We saw and continue to see online distribution channels struggle with the balance between enabling game makers at all levels to be able to share their creations, while also providing some level of quality control to make sure gamers are seeing the games they want to play. I imagine we will continue to see innovations in this space in the coming decade.
Gareth Wilson, Creative Director, Traveller's Tales (The LEGO Movie 2 Videogame): In 2010... I said many things will be the same, and on the surface they are. The big three are still battling it out in the console wars. But scratch the surface and things have changed massively. Very few people predicted the rise of free to play in 2010, first on mobile and then on PC and console. If you’d told me ten years ago the biggest game in 2019 was a free to play multiplatform shooter I would have been very surprised! Speaking of multiplatform, I’m delighted we’ve finally broken the walled garden of the consoles and have crossplay, it’s a massive step forwards which I wouldn’t have predicted. The rise of the YouTube star was a surprise, we predicted people watching live “e-sports” type championships of the best players, but not the massive growth of the “let’s play” video. Finally, the beginnings of game streaming and subscription services are game changers. I think they’re incredibly healthy for the industry and allow quality indie titles to reach audiences they could only previously dream of.
Tim Heaton, Studio Director, Creative Assembly and EVP Studios (Total War: Three Kingdoms): I think ‘free to play’ becoming a prevalent part of the gaming market is the trend that has had most impact. Sure, it began earlier than 2010, but it’s matured all the way through the last decade, with the latest thinking trying to restructure the negative aspects it can create – with initiatives like banning loot boxes and services like Apple Arcade.
The long life of individual games has also become more and more important. By that I mean both the long sales curves, driven by the digital storefronts, and the long engagement times that players have with a single game. These games-as-a-service are designed from the ground up to engage players for months and years, driven by new content and multiplayer opportunities. It’s changed every element of the business, from design, through the way the games are marketed, to the demands for ongoing support services.
"Games-as-a-service... [has] changed every element of the business, from design, through the way the games are marketed, to the demands for ongoing support services." - Tim Heaton, Creative Assembly
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Luc Duchaine, Executive Marketing Director, Ubisoft’s Canadian Studios: While games like DOTA and League of Legends were pioneers in the games-as-a-service genre, the past five years really confirmed the importance of those games. At Ubisoft, we have Rainbow Six Siege that is entering its fifth year, For Honor it’s the fourth year and we have brands like The Crew and The Division that are still updating their offers for the players.
Joe Neate, Executive Producer, Sea of Thieves, Rare: The growth of games-as-a-service, and the growth of streaming games to audiences.
It’s been fascinating to see player behavior evolve, and to figure out what kind of experiences would convince players to both give you a chance and then stick with you. We’ve had people playing Sea of Thieves since our first Technical Alpha three years ago who are still with us and as excited as ever! It has also been fascinating to start thinking about how you design a game to not only be great to play, but also to watch. I love when you see a random game blow up because everyone has suddenly started streaming it and you’re trying to figure out how it happened and what you can learn from it.
Masachika Kawata, Producer, Resident Evil series: [O]ne of the biggest changes in video games as a whole has probably been that, on top of the basic enjoyment of playing a game oneself, watching others play games has become a form of entertainment in and of itself.
Obviously, people have always watched their friends play alongside them or crowded around arcade machines, but the sheer number of people who found an additional way to enjoy watching games played by other people has really expanded the reach of gaming as a medium.
Marc Merrill, Co-Founder, Riot Games (League of Legends): There’s been so many: the steady growth of esports, the rise of streaming technology, games gaining more mainstream acceptance, the influence of China, and the rapid growth of mobile both from a market perspective but also as a platform that can credibly deliver high quality experiences.
I would argue it’s the power of celebrity that has been the most transformative and impactful. I’m not referring to famous players (although special shoutout to Rick Fox), despite the obvious star power they bring, but more the way that players have embraced streaming/video platforms to share their passion and engage directly with other players. Videogames are best when played with friends; streaming platforms in particular have made it possible for committed, passionate content creators to grow an incredibly large audience where it’s clear that the future of celebrity is along digital pathways.
Jamie Jackson, Chief Creative Officer, Mythical Games: For me, the most important change happened in the latter part of the decade: cross-platform play! This was a huge game-changer. Seeing all the major platform players fully embracing gamers and allowing and encouraging them to play together for the first time was incredible. It does give us deve...
Unveiling the top 10 game-changing transformations in the last decade of gaming. From VR to consoles, witness the evolution of the industry.
- Nick Steinberg
- The games media. EDGE, the world's most respected games magazine - and one of the few that remain. In August 2005, I got a job as a staff writer on a print magazine in the UK.
- The Japanese games industry. Some of the things I loved most about video games in 2005 have disappeared, now. In the midst of the PlayStation 2 era, there were loads of weird low-budget Japanese console games appearing every month.
- Games are no longer in thrall to cinema. For a large part of the '00s, games were obsessed with trying to be films, desperate to ape the action and emotional impact of cinema through the non-interactive techniques of cinema: cut-scenes, dialogue, visual realism.
- Games actually tell good stories now. One of the first big games I ever reviewed was Shadow of the Colossus, which at the time had storytelling ambitions far beyond what anything else was doing.
Oct 31, 2015 · Since its commercial birth in the 1950s as a technological oddity at a science fair, gaming has blossomed into one of the most profitable entertainment industries in the world.
Jan 6, 2019 · The UK's gaming industry has just been estimated to be worth £3.86bn - more than video and music combined. That makes it the fifth largest video game market in the world (or a shed load...
