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The Golden Age of Gaming Is Right Now: Here’s Why
The success of the gaming industry is unparalleled. Despite being a relatively recent phenomenon, it has become a global powerhouse that is worth more than the music and movie industries combined.
Games have never had it as good as they do right now. And happily, the video game industry’s commitment to development means that the future looks just as bright, too. With a host ofbig-game releases and new technology on the horizon, it’s an exciting time to be a gamer. Let’s take a look at just why this period is so special.
The video game world was great in the nineties and early noughties, but there was one downside, and that was that there were relatively few games available. There simply weren’t enough game development companies. As such, most games fell into one of several categories, and in reality, only a small handful of games were deemed successful.
Today, that’s all changed. There are thousands of games — as many as 15,000 — released each year, which means that gamers can find titles in virtually any niche. There’s a never-ending supply of games, and what’s more, many of them are available at a more than manageable cost. While the big-budget games are expensive, the competitive nature of the industry means that the average price for a game is relatively affordable.
It’s not just the thousands of new titles that are released each year that gamers get to enjoy. They can also play updated versions of classic games, and can often do so in a way that’s much cheaper than in the past. When they’re not playing the latest games, gamers can get deals on online slots, which offer a creative reimagining of the “one-armed bandits” from the pre-digital era, or download a chess app and enjoy one of the world’s oldest games in a thoroughly modern one. All of the major arcade games from decades past are available to play without downloading any software, too, with many games playable right within Google’s browser page.
You’d need to have a video game console to game back in the 1990s or have a computer that can handle PC games. As such, the number of gamers was relatively small, and the number of serious gamers was even smaller.
It’s estimated that today there are some 3.4 billion gamers, which is simply a staggering percentage of the world’s population. Of those, some 2.5 billion play games exclusively on their smartphone, which suggests that it’s only in the past few years that the number of gamers has skyrocketed. While purists might say that only console gaming is legitimate, the fact is that technological progress has helped make the gaming world much more inclusive — and that bodes well for the future of the industry since more players equals more talent pursuing game-related careers.
There’s a Community Spirit
There’s also a strong community spirit in the gaming world. The desire for such a spirit might have been there in the past, but the sheer difficulty in making meaningful, ongoing connections in the pre-smartphone world meant it wasn’t really a realistic aspiration. Today, games have dozens of forums to choose from, ensuring they can talk with like-minded people. It’s a subtle but powerful difference that makes gaming more enjoyable.
You Can Reach Your Highest Level
Finally, the internet has allowed gamers to reach their highest level. Whether it’s following YouTube tutorials, asking for advice on a subreddit, or paying for tutorials from more experienced gamers, there’s no shortage of ways for gamers to reach their full potential. And that helps make gaming more fun and enjoyable, elevating the standards across the board.
