Over the past few years, gaming has taken on another life and become one of the most popular pastimes all across the globe. Although this may be the case, there are still many overwhelming stigmas surrounding gaming that haven't been easy to shake even with the huge shift.
"It is just typically something boys do or have done and the game categories often involve combat, sports, or adventure which may not appeal to girls"
"Women may be afraid of being viewed as "nerdy" or "tomboy-ish" if they openly play video games"
"Gaming is childish and only for children, not for adults."
"There really isnt anything to be gained from playing video games. Video games dont have the intention of being able to make money like other hobbies"
Although we've all heard these thoughts many times before, do they really still hold up in today's technology driven world? A world where some video games have become a household name?
Lets start with the market value of video games and where it's headed for the future.
Since 2012 the gaming industry has gone from a 70.6 billion dollar industry, to a 159.3 billion dollar industry in 2020. With the rate that it is increasing at, the gaming industry is expected to be a 200.8 billion dollar industry by the year 2023.
As technology keeps progressing, video games have become far more accessable. In the past, video game were generally made for PC and console use only not now, smart phones have made it possible to play games anywhere and anytime. With that being said, mobile gaming now accounts for 77.2 billion dollars of the gaming industry value.
Since the beggining, gaming has been looked at as something that only males and children are intersted in. Although gaming has carried on these stigmas for so long, are they really even true in the world we live in today?
The above line graph displays the gender of gamers since the year 2006. Since 2006, females have made up no less than 38% of the gaming player base and they have reached peaks of 48% in 2014. After a few years of steady increase, the female player base has decreased to 41% in 2020 but, this is because of a large spike of new male gamers.
Along with gender, age has been an extremely controversial topic when it comes to the gaming world. Many would guess that gaming is something for young teens who will eventually grow out of gaming. Although this isn't the case at all. Gamers below the age of 18 actually make up only 21% of the player base which puts them in third place behind gamers age 34 to 54 years, who make up 26% and gamers who are age 18 to 34, which make up the biggest chunk at 38%.
We can see that gamers of different ages and genders are playing video games, but what about nationality? Gaming has reached a worldwide scale and become a staple of culture for some nations.
Below is a bubble chart representing total gamers in different regions of the world. To see which region is which, scroll over each bubble with your mouse.
Gaming has reached numbers that many across the world would not believe. Even with the massive surge in popularity that we have seen in the last few years, North America still hasn't caught up to the rest of the world with it's 210 million gamers. Asia has been a major force in the economic growth in gaming and has since blown every other region of the world out the water with it's 1.4 billion gamers.
Even though these stigmas have been around since the beggining of gaming, it's very easy to see that these thoughts are outdated and don't represent the real gaming landscape of today. Gaming is a massively successful industry because it has never just been for kids or males. With multiples ways to play, people all acrross the globe are becoming gamers at a rapid pace.