The gaming industry has been booming for the past couple of years. Read on to learn more about how this growth was forecasted, and how the business will progress.
Gaming Industry Revenue Keeps Climbing
Gaming Continues to Rise Up
Laura Miele, the president of Electronic Arts (EA) entertainment, spoke about the growth trend in the gaming industry in a recent interview with Bloomberg. She stated that "It’s [gaming] close to a $350 billion dollar industry, it certainly outsizes some of the media, movie and TV content for sure." Laura Miele briefly talked about the acquisition of Activision by Microsoft and stated that this was "an amazing deal," further reinforcing the narrative that gaming has become a really big deal. She added that she's excited at what gaming can bring into culture and society.
In a previous analysis done back in 2022, the industry was predicted to go up to 257 billion in value by 2023 and reach about 321 billion by 2026. This growth can be attributed to the recent COVID-19 pandemic and how games were vital to people to stay socially connected without seeing each other physically. While the world was forced into lockdown, many people believe that video games helped with their mental health to escape the boredom and isolation during this period.
We’re Mainstream Now But At What Cost?
In the same interview, she described that gaming is socially connecting different aspects of how people interact with each other as they play, create, and watch games, which led to gaming being a sizable industry. Finally, she stated that the Gen Z and the upcoming Gen Alpha audience prefer gaming as their entertainment medium, leading to even more growth.
While the industry continues to grow, it’s no secret that there have also been a significant amount of layoffs for companies to cut costs. Electronic Arts has also been included in the list of companies with a huge amount of layoffs within 2023. This list includes companies like Naughty Dog and CD Projekt Red, which have seen recent success with their games or other game-related ventures. It’s been a rampant trend that the amount of layoffs is rising in conjunction with the industry’s growth, and this may just be the beginning.
Sources
Bloomberg - Interview with Laura Miele
Tweaktown - Gaming Industry Nears $350 Billion Annual Revenue
WeForum - Pandemic Leads to Gaming Industry Growth
Medium - Gaming is the Biggest Entertainment Industry in the World
