The video game industry is currently one of the most prominent and most successful industries of the present day. With the advancements in modern technologies like high-level hardware, mobile gaming, and the growth of e-sports, gaming has become bigger and more profitable than ever. The gaming industry is divided into a couple of categories, of which the most prevalent are PC, mobile, and console games, while Virtual Reality and cloud-based games are increasingly growing and taking a small share of the gaming industry. In 2020, the video game industry has generated over $160 billion and it’s estimated that by 2025 that amount will significantly increase. But it wasn’t always like this, because back in the early days of gaming, it went through a turbulent stage which almost led to a total breakdown. Fortunately, gaming has prevailed and it’s here to stay. With that being said, we’d like to take a closer insight into the history of gaming and its ups and downs, from the early days to the modern day.
First Steps
Did you know that the first video games originated from the scientific labs? Back in the ’50s, a professor from the UK called A. S. Douglas developed OXO (tic-tac-toe) for his doctoral thesis. A couple of years later, William Higinbotham made a Tennis for Two, and those games are recognized as the first video games in history. With the rise of the home consoles and arcades in the ’70s, gaming became more mainstream and publicly available for consumers. But due to the over-saturation of the game market and an immense number of low-quality games, the video game industry collapsed in the early eighties which led to the bankruptcy of several video game companies. This lasted a couple of years and allowed the home computers to take over the place of the consoles. Fast forward a couple of years, the Nintendo console came to the USA and introduced some of the most celebrated titles in gaming history like Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda, and Metroid. Gaming became successful once again, and that’s when other companies like Sega and Sony joined the game (pun intended). The so-called “console wars” started, and over the years many consoles got released to satisfy gamers’ demand. Each console has brought something new, and PC gaming followed in the consoles’ footsteps.
Advancement of Gaming
After recognizing the huge potential of gaming, companies have started investing much more funds into the development of hardware and video games. Gamers were always craving for more, and thanks to the technological innovations, 3D games become available, followed by online games, mobile games, and handheld console games. This has completely transformed the gaming industry, and it became a huge part of the mainstream culture worldwide. Players could now choose from various genres of games, which they could play with people from around the globe from the comfort of their homes. That’s when the first online games originated, as gaming companies have realized the tremendous potential of online gaming. The initial online game sites were nothing like new casino sites, as online gaming was new and unregulated, players were hesitant of switching from traditional to online games. Fortunately, present-day online gaming is very high-level and it allows anyone to play from various devices in the majority of the countries throughout the globe. Nowadays, the gaming industry has started targeting casual gamers by releasing mobile games due to the widespread presence of smartphones, and their affordability compared to consoles and PCs. Because of that, mobile gaming is the most profitable after PC gaming, and these games bring millions of dollars to the companies.
What’s Next for Gaming?
Up until this point, gaming has been constantly progressing and it remained one of the most popular ways of entertainment. We’ve seen so many innovations and improvements, but what does the future of gaming look like? Most likely, we’ll see the evolution of VR and AR gaming, which will allow the new genres to emerge and more immersive gaming experience. Another popular genre that’s already becoming mainstream is crypto games, which are essentially games where players can purchase or sell in-game items for cryptocurrencies. The introduction of 5G mobile networks will allow cloud gaming without latency across multiple devices, and this will certainly significantly revolutionize gaming even more!
Not surprising that many video games originated in scientific labs. Fun fact, Soviet software engineer Alexey Pajitnov created Tetris while working at a government-funded lab.