Since its modern inception back in the ’70s with Pong, gaming has been on the slow burn growth ever since with arcades in the 80s and home consoles in the 90s and beyond, but in the early days, it still remained quite a small niche with teen males being the primary audience and not having much allure for fans outside of this typical age demographic.
Mobile has helped change this; online options at casinogenie.org, for example, have brought an older audience into the market, adjustments to popular genres have brought a changing demographic for the younger audience, and children’s games have allowed kids to explore gaming options, too – but what has led to gaming being its current form as a popular culture icon that boasts nearly 4 billion active players, half of the world’s population?
Esports Have Captured The World’s Attention
With the biggest end-of-year tournaments bringing in hundreds of millions of concurrent viewers and the games themselves also having millions of concurrent players, the biggest esports has certainly changed the way gaming is perceived. The perception has shifted from a small niche pastime to a global phenomenon that has allowed the skillful minority to earn a living much like professional sports athletes and has become captivating in the same way that traditional sporting events have been too – selling out arenas and thriving in the online space, esports has certainly helped move gaming forward.
Changing Tech and Platforms
With newer tech allowing games to look better than ever and be packed full of features and gaming methods too, the complexity and aesthetic of the games bring in many players by themselves – in addition to this, options to play aren’t just limited to bulky consoles as handheld devices, and smartphones, in particular, have become the most used devices – mobile is attributed to over half of all gamers, with its primary audience also shifting to women over the age of 34 as the primary consumer showing how much the market has changed.
Bigger Endorsements Show Almost Daily
Whilst we can look back and see the biggest celebrities and sports stars with their brand new Gameboys and PlayStation from back in the 90s, these moments were often fewer and far between and didn’t emerge for quite some time – now it’s not uncommon to see pap images and social media posts of our favorite stars enjoying gaming options and has helped to normalize the habit too – gaming is no longer seen as some niche ‘nerd’ option, but a part of everyday life for the average joe worker to the most famous celebrities too.
