Global Video Games history

However, the first game system designed for commercial home use did not emerge until nearly three decades later, when Ralph Baer and his team released his prototype, the “Brown Box,” in 1967.

The “Brown Box” was licensed to Magnavox, which released the system as the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972.

In 1973, Jim Bowery released Spasim for PLATO — a 32-player space shooter — which is regarded as the first example of a 3D multiplayer game.

Technological advancements, such as Intel’s invention of the world’s first microprocessor, led to the creation of games such as Gunfight in 1975, the first example of a multiplayer human-to-human combat shooter.

The integration of the microprocessor also led to the release of Space Invaders for the Atari VCS in 1980, signifying a new era of gaming — and sales: Atari 2600 sales shot up to 2 million units in 1980.

William von Meister unveiled groundbreaking modem-transfer technology for the Atari 2600 at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in 1982.

Too many gaming consoles, and too few interesting, engaging new games to play on them, eventually led to the 1983 North American video games crash, which saw huge losses, and truckloads of unpopular, poor-quality titles buried in the desert just to get rid of them.

In 1987, Nintendo released The Legend of Zelda.

In 1988, arcade company Sega entered the fray with the Sega Mega Drive console (released as the Genesis in North America) and then later the Game Gear handheld, putting its marketing emphasis on processing power.

They doubled down and released their follow up console, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990.

Multiplayer gaming over networks really took off with the release of Pathway to Darkness in 1993, and the “LAN Party” was born.

On the other side of the aisle, Sony had developed the first major disc-based consoles, the PlayStation in 1994.

In 1995 Nintendo released Satellaview, a satellite modem peripheral for Nintendo’s Super Famicom console.

In 1996, the Nintendo 64, (named for the 64-bit processing), was released to great fanfare.

Released in 2000, the PS2 has sold over 150 million units.

The release of Runescape in 2001 was a game changer.

Meanwhile on PCs, Blizzard was tapping into the Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) subscription market with the 2004 release of World of Warcraft, which saw a peak of more than 14 million monthly paying subscribers.

Since smartphones and app stores hit the market in 2007, gaming has undergone yet another rapid evolution that has changed not only the way people play games, but also brought gaming into the mainstream pop culture in a way never before seen.

Although Angry Birds has been a household name since its release in 2011, it is unlikely to be remembered as fondly as Space Invaders or Pong.

Major gaming acquisitions since 2014

According to the ESA Computer and video games industry report for 2015, at least 1.5 billion people with Internet access play video games.

Global videogame revenue is expected to surge 20% to $179.7 billion in 2020, according to IDC data, making the videogame industry a bigger moneymaker than the global movie and North American sports industries combined.

In a December 2021 survey, UK families were asked to rate their financial situation following the pandemic.