Unfortunately, the gaming industry grew too quickly to maintain.Įager to capitalize on a growing home console market, Atari licensed extremely high budget ports of Pac-Man and a game adaptation of E.T. By 1982, arcades were already generating more money than both the pop music industry and the box office. After dwindling due to a glut of Pong clones, the release of Space Invaders in 1978 reinvigorated the market.Īrcade machines started to be installed everywhere, and new franchises like Pac-Man and Donkey Kong drove further growth.

In short order, the arcade market began to plateau. Likewise, it was Atari that sold a home console version of Pong in 1975, and eventually its own Atari 2600 home console in 1977, which would become the first console to sell more than a million units. The arcade table-tennis game was a sensation, drawing in consumers eager to play and companies that started to produce their own knock-off versions.

1970–1983: The Pre-Crash EraĮarly prototypes of video games were developed in labs in the 1960s, but it was Atari’s release of Pong in 1972 that helped to kickstart the industry. Research from Pelham Smithers shows that while the tidal wave of gaming has only continued to swell, the driving factors have shifted over the course of gaming history.

We’re already far past the point of gaming being the biggest earning media sector, with an estimated $165 billion revenue generated in 2020.īut as our graphic above helps illustrate, it’s important to break down shifting growth within the market. View a more detailed version of the above by clicking hereĮvery year it feels like the gaming industry sees the same stories-record sales, unfathomable market reach, and questions of how much higher the market can go. 50 Years of Gaming History, by Revenue Stream (1970-2020)

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