Gaming Trends On the Rise in 2024

Gaming in 2024 is not what it was in 1972. when Atari released its famous Pong. Atari’s CEO at the time, Nolan Bushnell, could never imagine that video games would generate more revenue than the music and movie industries combined.

Hollywood <<< The Gaming Industry  

We’re purposefully using a bit of textspeak in the subtitle here, as it reflects how the traditional way of entertaining people just isn’t what it used to be. Just look at the viewership figures for the Oscars. And, streamers like Netflix and Disney+ are popular but still hemorrhaging money. 

So, our first trend? Well, it’s that gaming has quickly become the go-to entertainment option for most people. Hollywood is still the massive competitor of the gaming industry but certain trends are telling us that gaming is here to stay. 

There are layered and complex factors for why we’re seeing such an expansion of gaming. The widening adoption of smartphones due to lower costs and the high-speed internet on your cell phone, allowing for online play while on the go is a factor contributing to both movies and games. 

However, a major transition from television and movie theaters to gaming was the technological advancement taking place in the later 2000s. Games of choice became more immersive, visually stunning, and accessible to a wider audience. After a while, everything was online. With the possibility of multiplayer games, it became a social experience, taking the gaming revenue to a whole new level.    

Now, online gambling games are also on the rise, which significantly contributes to the further development of the gaming industry. New online casinos and social casinos are opened every month due to high demand among players. Casino games are often played on a phone, which was unthinkable just 10 or 20 years ago.   

All of these factors have meshed together for a perfect gaming storm if you will. But it’s all interconnected, with the most recent trends in the industry also driving growth: 

The eSports Revolution 

The extension of this obsession with watching others play video games is eSports. The video game industry is now bigger than sports, and one of the reasons is that we are starting to prefer its virtual equivalent. 

Big companies are increasingly investing in virtual sports teams. Brands have clocked just how much potential is in this subsector of the industry, and we’re now seeing gamers become bona fide celebrities in their own right.

Gaming as a Second Screen 

Some people call it ADHD, a short attention span, a downward move. To people in the industry, it’s called second screening. It’s when you Netflix and TikTok. When you bet on a game on your phone while watching it on your television. 

These days, we’re all second screening, for better or for worse. Industries are adapting as a result. Many developers are now releasing games on the App Store with the second screen as the primary use case, often simplifying gameplay to drive popularity. 

Did We Say Gaming is Growing? 

Gaming is going to continue expanding. Probably beyond the expert figures, if we’re being honest. If gaming can beat movies and TV, the world is its oyster. 

And it’s not just Hollywood that’s quaking in their boots. Sports, which we think of as gargantuan businesses, are also under long-term threat. Yes, it’s silly considering just how big something like the Super Bowl is, but if you take a wider view, younger people are increasingly turning off their sports channels in favor of their consoles. 

The video game industry has 3 billion players. And it’ll be worth almost $500 billion in the next three years. That wraps up the most important trend we mentioned at the start of this piece, that gaming looks almost unstoppable.