Hey guys! Alex here. So, the past few weeks we've had the release of several major game titles and the announcement of some new ones, but the one that has without a doubt made the biggest impact over the last month, was the release of Pokemon X and Y for the Nintendo 3DS. And that just comes to add itself to the several other major-selling titles (Grand Theft Auto V, The Last Of Us), which made literally hundreds of millions of dollars for their respective companies. And if you add the fact that the next-gen consoles have not even been released yet (which means, their game titles are also due), one cannot help but imagine how far the gaming industry has come over the years and how much further it is going to go in the years to come.
Let's look at some numbers. Nintendo made an announcement yesterday, regarding the sales for the two first days of release of Pokemon X/Y. It sold 4 million worldwide! That means the company made about $160m just from it's opening two days (considering a copy of the game costs about $40)! As for the record-breaker, GTAV, that has landed the creator company Rockstar a mind-boggling $1 billion within two weeks. It has become the highest selling game of all time. It has already broken the records set by Minecraft and right now the only game that has sold more copies is Call Of Duty: Black Ops (at least on the XBox 360).
People have always been excited with video games, but never like this. The previously mentioned Call Of Duty: Black Ops is a good example of how times are changing in the video game industry. Even though its predecessor Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare sold around 7 million copies (which at the time was considered extraordinary for a video game), Black Ops destroyed that record selling 5.6 million only within 24 hours!
If you take into account that in today's world you would have to be hidden in a cave five feet below the planet's surface not to have internet access and, subsequently everyone is able to filter the products they want so that they can be able to purchase them as soon as they release, it won't be long until there is another title that ends up breaking the records that GTAV and Pokemon X/Y have set.
So, that creates the question: how far will the gaming industry go? Well, right now I would say the gaming industry is in quite a respectable position within its field. In the entertainment industries, as a general, gaming has become not only widely popular, but financially promising as well, as the previously provided numbers state. Gamers are represented in expositions all over the world. Hollywood actors are also featured within popular games (Kiefer Sutherland). More and more people on a daily basis are spending time on a console or an android device playing games.
Even when compared to the other industries of entertainment, it's obvious that the gaming industry is doing quite well (I repeat, without the release of the next-gen consoles). The music industry, that has been hit by piracy, continues its fall. Since people can just download music for free, artists don't make nearly as much money as they used to. For example, in 1999 the album "Millenium" from the Backstreet Boys sold around 9,4 million copies wirldwide. Last year, the top selling album was Adele's "21", with around 3,2 million. The drawback is obvious. There are still the faithful followers that buy the albums in order to support the artists, but if someone has the ease of just listening to it without having to actually go to the store and buy it or even pay for it, then that's more than likely what he will do.
The gaming industry doesn't have that problem as of yet (at least not in such high numbers). Surely there might be some emulator here and there that helps you play old and outdated games that bring back the nostalgia of your childhood, or even some games that are on handheld devices if you cannot afford one, but for the big titles, you'll more than often have to cash in. And the strange thing is, people seem to want to do it.
So, obviously the gaming industry is on the rise. Sure, it's not as big as Hollywood, but with games like GTAV, The Last Of Us, Pokemon X/Y making money like crazy, it's pretty big news! And there's still a lot more to come like Watch Dogs, Batman: Arkham Origins, The Legend Of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds and Battlefield 4. And this is still the current generation. If you're not a gamer, now is the best time to become one!
Let's look at some numbers. Nintendo made an announcement yesterday, regarding the sales for the two first days of release of Pokemon X/Y. It sold 4 million worldwide! That means the company made about $160m just from it's opening two days (considering a copy of the game costs about $40)! As for the record-breaker, GTAV, that has landed the creator company Rockstar a mind-boggling $1 billion within two weeks. It has become the highest selling game of all time. It has already broken the records set by Minecraft and right now the only game that has sold more copies is Call Of Duty: Black Ops (at least on the XBox 360).
People have always been excited with video games, but never like this. The previously mentioned Call Of Duty: Black Ops is a good example of how times are changing in the video game industry. Even though its predecessor Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare sold around 7 million copies (which at the time was considered extraordinary for a video game), Black Ops destroyed that record selling 5.6 million only within 24 hours!
If you take into account that in today's world you would have to be hidden in a cave five feet below the planet's surface not to have internet access and, subsequently everyone is able to filter the products they want so that they can be able to purchase them as soon as they release, it won't be long until there is another title that ends up breaking the records that GTAV and Pokemon X/Y have set.
So, that creates the question: how far will the gaming industry go? Well, right now I would say the gaming industry is in quite a respectable position within its field. In the entertainment industries, as a general, gaming has become not only widely popular, but financially promising as well, as the previously provided numbers state. Gamers are represented in expositions all over the world. Hollywood actors are also featured within popular games (Kiefer Sutherland). More and more people on a daily basis are spending time on a console or an android device playing games.
Even when compared to the other industries of entertainment, it's obvious that the gaming industry is doing quite well (I repeat, without the release of the next-gen consoles). The music industry, that has been hit by piracy, continues its fall. Since people can just download music for free, artists don't make nearly as much money as they used to. For example, in 1999 the album "Millenium" from the Backstreet Boys sold around 9,4 million copies wirldwide. Last year, the top selling album was Adele's "21", with around 3,2 million. The drawback is obvious. There are still the faithful followers that buy the albums in order to support the artists, but if someone has the ease of just listening to it without having to actually go to the store and buy it or even pay for it, then that's more than likely what he will do.
The gaming industry doesn't have that problem as of yet (at least not in such high numbers). Surely there might be some emulator here and there that helps you play old and outdated games that bring back the nostalgia of your childhood, or even some games that are on handheld devices if you cannot afford one, but for the big titles, you'll more than often have to cash in. And the strange thing is, people seem to want to do it.
So, obviously the gaming industry is on the rise. Sure, it's not as big as Hollywood, but with games like GTAV, The Last Of Us, Pokemon X/Y making money like crazy, it's pretty big news! And there's still a lot more to come like Watch Dogs, Batman: Arkham Origins, The Legend Of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds and Battlefield 4. And this is still the current generation. If you're not a gamer, now is the best time to become one!
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