What is the History of the Video Game Industry and What is its Projected Growth?
The first Video Game was created in October 1958 by William Higinbotham at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. Since then, the concept behind video games has been expanded upon at increasingly fast rates. In the 1970s, Arcade Machines with simple 8-bit processing made video games accessible to a wider audience. In the 1980s, early home consoles and hanheld consoles started to emerge, allowing people to play video games from home. PC gaming skyrocketed in popularity in the 1990s, and mobile games emerged in the 2000s. Now, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are the newest breakthrough in the gaming industry. With each new breakthrough, the demand for game designers who can create an experience that utilize new technologies has increased, thanks to video games now being able to reach a larger audience.
The Video Game Industry has grown significantly since Video Games first emerged, and it is projected to continue to grow in the coming years, too. According to Statista, the Video Game market is projected to grow 9.99% annually from 2024 to 2027. By 2027, the market value in the United States is projected to be about $103.80 billion. The rapid growth of the Video Game industry is thanks to its rising number of users. By 2027, Statista projects that there will be around 91 million people who buy and play video games. As new technological breakthroughs are made and demand for new games continues to grow, more employers will be searching for innovative Game Designers.