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G
aming has been loitering on the edge of absolute
domination for some time but now it’s official -
gaming is the most popular form of entertainment on
the planet. More money is spent on games than on
TV, movies, books, and just about any form of
entertainment you can think of.
According to Reuters, gaming grew by 10.7% during
the last year alone, while television continued its
steady decline with an 8 percent drop globally. The total gaming revenue
for the past year amounted to an estimated $116 billion, compared to
$105 billion for TV and TV streaming services.
Compared to movies and music, gaming absolute the dwarfs the
competition though. Just $17 billion was made from digital music sales and
streaming, while movie box office totals for the past year amounted to $41
billion. So to clarify - gaming is now worth almost three times as much as
the movie industry.
Gaming’s big then, no surprises there, but where’s the increased coming
from? Growth in China is one of the leading answers. In China, game sales
increased 14% per year on average and we’ve seen this with the huge
increase in the number of Chinese players using Steam.
The other answer, of course, is Fortnite. Epic’s battle royale shooter is
single-handedly responsible for a chunk of the growth of the games
industry. 125 million people have played Fortnite, and over 40 million are
playing every month. Grand Theft Auto V, too, continues to do insane
numbers. It’s now coming up to 100 million copies sold, making it more
successful than any single movie in history.
Interestingly, Reuters also points out a role reversal of sorts taking
place in regards to games and movies. Previously, licensed games were
getting pumped out to launch alongside just about any notable movie.
Now we’re seeing the opposite increasingly happen. Huge game franchises
like Angry Birds and Assassin’s Creed are being approached by movie
studios looking to piggyback off the games’ successes.
The here and now looks very bright for games then, although it still
feels we’ve got an oddly long way to go in regards to the general
acceptance of games as a dominant force of entertainment. Speaking
anecdotally, in the US and the UK they very rarely talk about games on the
news, and when they do it’s seldom positive. Meanwhile, there are
segments every day on new movies and TV shows, despite it evidently
catering to a smaller market. Perhaps this is just a sign that gamers are
tech savvy enough to get their news fix elsewhere, but it’s certainly an area
the archaic television studios need to work on.
"The here and now looks very bright for games then,
although it still feels we’ve got an oddly long way to
go in regards to the general acceptance of games as
a dominant force of entertainment."
Gaming Is Now The Most Popular Form of
Entertainment In The World
by Stuart Thomas