The Biggest Changes in the Gaming Industry in the Last Decade

The gaming industry is passing through one of the superior periods in its history, for the present, on the internet and mobile devices. And if you’re looking for someone to play with, this site will be helpful for you in finding the right people.

Young people, unlike older generations, don’t just play games. For them, it’s a way of communication with the world and friends, making gaming a potentially attractive marketing channel for global corporations. The global audience of gamers on all gaming platforms surpasses 2 billion people: every fourth person in the world plays games. And this number is continuously growing.

The pandemic also affects the popularity of gaming: people of different generations play virtual games more in the absence of entertainment. According to Bloomberg data for June, users increased by 35% during the pandemic. The research company NewZoo predicts a 20% increase in sales of the global gaming market by the end of 2020 — up to $175 billion and up to $256 billion by the end of 2025.

Consumers’ audience and purchasing power are growing in parallel with the integration of gaming into real life and the simplification of access to games. The methods of monetizing games are increasing, and the game economy is developing. It is impossible to imagine what games will be like in 20 or even 10 years because technology is growing much faster than before. However, we can look back and notice what changes the world has seen in the gaming industry in the last decade. Here are the biggest of them.

Mobile Games

Mobile platforms created a new sales channel in the 2010s. Besides amateur gamers, buying games or a console for a computer deliberately, the option for a person spending time in the subway on the way to work playing on his phone appears. It has led to functional games simplification to adapt them to the limited capabilities of the phone compared to the keyboard or joystick. Improved graphics and effects accompany this simplification. Mobile devices will become a core platform for cloud gaming because of the widespread technology adoption and smartphone convenience. Nowadays, many people consider mobile games a prospective market capable of generating high profits.

Console Time

Game consoles appeared on the market in Japan, Western Europe, and the USA in the early 1970s and were hard to reach for plenty of consumers. Buying a console required severe investments. Over the next 35 years, six more generations of consoles were released. In the 2000s, games became more accessible, and an alternative appeared in personal computers. Cartridges and then disks gradually went into the past—it has become possible to buy and download games online.

Every year gamers spend more and more money on games for new game consoles and computers. The ninth console generation entered the gaming market in November 2020, including the fourth Xbox, Xbox Series X|S and the fifth-generation Sony PlayStation, PlayStation 5.

IT Giants in the Gaming Market

Another change can be attributed to the appearance of Amazon, Apple, Google, and Nvidia in the field of cloud gaming.

Nvidia began testing its service in 2013, allowing you to play already purchased but not installed games. It is one of the first examples of streaming games with the help of the cloud without the necessary installation. The full version of the service appeared in February 2020.

Google launched its cloud gaming service in November 2019. A customer can purchase games and stream them through the cloud with it. There is no need for players to buy expensive hardware with powerful processors to play.

Microsoft launched its service in September 2020 after beta testing. This service is available for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers. The user gets access to hundreds of games on PC and Xbox One, as well as the opportunity to play games on any device (so far only based on Android).

Esports

The widespread impact on the economy leads to the development of other industries, such as the growing popularity of esports due to video streaming platforms such as Twitch, owned by Amazon.

These days, top gamers can earn up to $15,000 an hour by broadcasting gaming to their followers on platforms like Twitch. Companies that promote professional sports events (for example, holders of the rights to broadcast football matches) are beginning to show more interest in esports as the audience grows, and professional players appear.

Conclusion

For several decades, gaming has become the most popular way of spending time, both among children and adults. With the gaming industry’s development, the gameplay is becoming more exciting and versatile. These trends make gaming one of the most exciting and promising industries of the 21st century.