When one mentions the entertainment industry, most people would think about films and music. Many people watch the Oscars, Grammys, Golden Globes, MTV Video Music Awards, BRIT Awards, etc. Of course, there is a lot of glitz and glamour in the film and music industries. But would you be surprised to learn that these two are not the top-grossing sectors in entertainment?

As a matter of fact, these two put together do not even match half the revenue the video game industry is earning. According to the latest figures, the video game business is now larger than both the movie and music industries combined, making it a major industry in entertainment. In 2019, the global games market was estimated to generate US$152.1 billion from 2.5 billion gamers around the world. By comparison, the global box office industry was worth US$41.7b while global music revenues reached US$19.1b in 2018.

Consider the top blockbuster movie to date, Avengers: Endgame. When it premiered April 16, 2019, it raked in over US$858.37m during its opening weekend. It even surpassed 2018's Avengers: Infinity War, which generated US$678.82m in gross revenue. But while these films received so much attention and hype from the general public, they failed to outperform the highest-grossing entertainment launch in history, Grand Theft Auto V’s release back in 2013, which earned US$1b in just over 3 days.

Glitz and glamor, after all, don't directly translate to bigger profits.

SMARTPHONE BOOST
The video game industry can be classified into 3 main categories – PC, mobile, and console gaming.

Mobile gaming, which includes smartphone and tablet gaming, is the largest segment, accounting for US$68.5b of total estimated revenue in 2019, up 10.2% from 2018. Console gaming is estimated to generate US$47.9b revenues, up 13.4% from 2018, while PC gaming is seen earning US$35.7b, up 4%. Mobile gaming is expected to take up 59% of the global video game market by 2021, while console and PC gaming will have 22% and 19% respectively.

Clearly, mobile gaming has gone a long way since its birth in 1997 when the addicting Snake was pre-installed in over 400 million Nokia phones. Although mobile gaming was interrupted for several years when the trend switched back to what was known as the “console wars”, over the years, the development of the smartphone, coupled with advancements in the internet and connectivity, has paved the way for more exciting gaming experience with the RPG (role-playing game) and MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-paying game) becoming more accessible to mobile phones.

THE BIRTH OF E-SPORTS
E-sports stands for “electronic sports”, a type of competition that involves the use of video games. A typical e-sports tournament takes the form of multiplayer video game competitions between teams of professional gamers. The most common genres played today are multiplayer online battle arenas, first-person shooters, battle royales, and real-time strategy games. A few of the highest and most prestigious e-sport competitions today are Dota 2, Fortnite, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends, StarCraft II, and Overwatch. With its growing popularity, e-sports has raised casual gaming into a professional and competitive game of skills, strategy, and team play.

Today, being a professional gamer can be a lucrative career as numerous competitions are being organized in different parts of the world and tens of thousands to millions of dollars being given away as prizes. The prize pool for the most recent Dota 2 tournament, for example, reached over US$34 million.

Gone are the days when gaming was just an activity to pass the time. The rise of e-sports has drastically changed the picture, growing the gaming culture from a niche community to what is now a spectator sport that brings in different profit-generating channels from merchandising to live events, streaming services, online advertising, and even brand endorsements. It has become an international phenomenon, literally taking the game to the center stage with a much larger global audience.

Although e-sports is now a billion-dollar industry, not many mass media companies have been covering its growth and expansion. Nonetheless, there is no question that e-sports is largely contributing to the exponential growth of the video game industry, silently taking over the entertainment world.

LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE
Gaming is no longer just a hobby, and to describe it as a niche market is an understatement. It’s a booming industry with very wide room for growth. And with continuous innovation and the launching of more game offerings, we can only envision a very bright future for the gaming industry. The rapid rise of technology will bring the industry to other realms such as cloud gaming, VR (virtual reality) gaming, and AR (augmented reality) gaming.

SOURCE: https://www.ejinsight.com/eji/article/id/2280405/20191022-video-game-industry-silently-taking-over-entertainment-world

This is so educative. first time am seeing this.

good I like it tho

How can we take advantage of this?

[mrsage:
How can we take advantage of this?]

Good question.

Here are some examples of jobs in the video game industry:

Games Designer
Software Developer and Game Programmer
Games Artist
Interpreters and Translators
Game Play Tester
Professional Gamer
Audio Engineer
Games Animator
Analytical Manager
Project Manager
etc

Depending on which area of work you have interest, here are some ideas to get you started:
1. Join gaming blogs or discussion boards.
2. Take a related professional course e.g. Training schools like Aptech offer courses in Animation etc.
3. Join a gaming syndicate. This will enable you to participate in multiplayer competitions and win cash prizes.
4. Get a related University degree or Polytechnic diploma.
5. Think up ideas for interesting video games and write them down.
6. Download and use game development Apps.
7. Develop a game (no matter how rudimentary) and then post it on your social media pages / forums like Nairaland.
8. Get an internship at a video game company or related (design, animation, coding etc) studio. Mid-range studios with about 10 to 20 employees are usually the best.
9. Learn at least one game engine e.g. Unreal Engine or Unity Engine.
10. Learn some relevant practical skills e.g.:
Artist: Learn how to use Photoshop, Maya, Illustrator and other gaming-relevant tools. Make some nice paintings and show them off online.
Audio Engineer: Learn an instrument, especially the piano. You don't have to go to music school; just attach yourself to any good Keyboardist in church and learn improvisation ("playing by ear" ).
Programmer: Learn at least 2 of the following - Visual Studio, C++, Python, C#, Php or Java.
Analytical Manager: Learn Excel, Maths, Statistics, SQL, Big Query.
Project Manager: Learn team skills, time management, collaboration, presentation.
etc
11. Etc.

You don't need professional experience to break into the industry. What you need is interest, passion and diligence.

Best of luck!

Hi there. Online gaming become more and more popular every year. There are many new interesting games, so everyone can find something interesting. You just need to have modern PC to play! Also it is quite interesting to watch online tournaments. Personally I want to buy dota 2 account and play this game on high rank, very interesting!

Hello, everyone! I agree with the statement that video games are taking over the entertainment world. Nowadays, video games have become a place for recreation. Here people can relax and forget about all the problems. Games bring happiness and peace of mind to people and this is a fact. There are those who make money from games as well. For example, cyber sportsmen and those who use TipsGG. For these people, cyber sports games will always be not only a way to have fun, but also to earn good money.