The video game industry will bring in over $152 billion this year, research firm Newzoo predicts. Here's what's behind the surge.
, so much so that it hit about 83 million users in March 2010, just nine months after its release.
Riot's creation was part of a string of free-to-play, or F2P, successes. The late 1990s and early 2000s saw the gradual rise of free-to-play massive multiplayer online games, or MMOs, that coincided with a penchant for PC gaming as the internet provided game developers with another platform. By the late 2000s, many publishers had even transitioned their MMOs from subscription-based models to F2P, making money primarily through user-purchased in-game cosmetics and add-ons.
Visitors stream online computer games on the Twitch Interactive stand at Gamescom video games trade fair in Cologne, Germany.But new ways of distribution also fueled gaming's popularity, embodying the digitization and socialization of entertainment as a whole. While YouTube had already tapped into consumer demand for games-related content through video on demand, Twitch, which began as Justin.tv in 2011, added another layer.
But one of the most telling things about the industry, said Sepso, is also many publishers' willingness to embrace the livestreamers, content creators and ultimately the online distribution of games in a way that other entertainment industries have not. And that helped grow the esports industry.
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