The home video game industry has been a notable yet not dominant part of the retail market since the 1970s. As gaming systems and home computers improved, a gaming culture of young adults began to develop in the 1990s, which eventually influenced global pop culture. The video game industry has also become a major money maker, with global video game revenue projected to reach $522 billion in 2025. A deeper dive into the current video game industry reveals that its success is being driven by young adults who are tech savvy and know how to combine social media and gaming. Game producers, retailers, and consumers who understand how gamer culture influences the industry and greater pop culture will be in a position to take advantage of future gaming related cultural trends.
You’re probably at least vaguely familiar with the ubiquitous nature of video games. You’ve probably seen the high-budget, well-produced commercials for some games, or you have a family member who’s a “gamer,” or maybe you’re even a gamer yourself! Gamers have definitely left a mark on modern culture and they’ve become an important part of the consumer segment in their own right by blending social media and gaming. Game distribution service, Steam, and streaming service, Twitch, have been the two primary platforms by which gamers have made their mark on the gaming industry and beyond, so let’s take a look at those platforms, how gamers have used them, and what to expect for some future gaming trends.
From Cartridges to Downloads
The gaming industry and gaming culture has come a long way since the 1970s. Some gaming historians point to Steve Russell’s 1962 creation of the game Spacewar! as the beginning of the gamer revolution, but that game wasn’t widely available on home computers and video game consuls until the 1970s.
The 1970s was the first golden era of gaming, with the first console system, the Magnavox Odyssey, released in 1971, but it was the release of the Atari 2600 console in 1977 that forever changed gaming culture in America. The Atari 2600 quickly became far more than just a game system, as it permeated many aspects of pop culture in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Atari was a pioneer in sonic branding, developing a catchy tune for its commercials with the easy to remember lyrics, “have you played Atari today?” Atari t-shirts were popular and Atari systems were often shown and featured in films and TV of the era. And as kids begged their parents to buy a system, those who had the system in their homes traded games with their friends, laying the groundwork in many ways for the gaming culture of today. The video game crash of 1983 ended Atari’s dominance, but gamers quickly gravitated to the Nintendo, Sega, and Sony systems in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Gaming culture moved into the mainstream during the 1990s with publications such as Wired providing a forum for gamers, and the first internet forums dedicated to gaming went online in the ‘90s, but buying, selling, and trading games was still limited to physical locations such as Blockbuster. That would all change in 2003.
Modern Gaming Culture
Gaming culture stepped into the twenty-first century when game distribution service Steam went online in 2003. Steam is a service that allows users to buy and sell digital downloads of primarily PC games via proprietary tokens they purchase through PayPal or with credit cards. The service has proven to be very successful, financially and culturally.
Steam currently holds 75% of the market share for all PC games sold and offers 34,000 games to users. There were more than 132 million monthly users of steam in 2021 and in 2017 more than $4.3 billion in game purchases were made on the system. Steam’s financial success has led other companies to try to emulate it, but as much as Steam has influenced the video game industry financially, it’s been just as important to the creation of modern gaming culture.
From the beginning, Steam was more than just a video game trading service. Users could leave reviews just as with most other retail websites, but in 2007 the Steam Community debuted on the site, which allowed users to set up friend lists and voice chat. By the 2010s Steam added even more features that were the result of the growing gaming culture as well as game streaming services. Steam began broadcasting live streams of gamers and monetization was introduced, primarily through game production and creation. Some game creators also encourage gamers to play a role in game development by offering feedback and suggestions.
Streaming and Gaming Culture
Steam pushed gaming culture into the twenty-first century with its emphasis on the gamer community, but the streaming service Twitch has brought the gaming industry and gaming culture to another level. Twitch began in 2011 as the idea of Justin Kan, who streamed 24/7 on the site. Although Kan was an active gamer, Twitch was not exclusively a gaming site initially and still isn’t. With that said, gamers dominate the top 100 streamers on the site, which is determined by the more than fifteen million daily users. Twitch almost immediately had a notable grip on gamer culture in general, and its many features allowed it to appeal to a even larger audience.
Twitch is user friendly, as not account is required to view streams, but users do need to activate an account and specific streaming software if they want to stream. The communal elements of Twitch are also apparent, with gamers interacting with their followers/fans during sessions, and the more followers a streamer has the greater chance he or she has of becoming monetized. The monetization of gamer culture in general, and game streaming in particular has opened the door for a number of trends that will affect business and culture in the coming years.
Future Trends in Gaming Culture
Both Steam and Twitch have opened new potential sources of revenue for gamers as well as opportunities for investors and brands in the gaming industry. Twitch in particular is often credited with the emergence of esports in the 2010s, which is now a billion dollar industry globally.
In the late 2010s, gaming industry insiders had predicted that the total audience of esports would grow to 454 million viewers with total revenue at about US $1 billion, with China accounting for 35% of the revenue. Although the total, global esports revenue was just under $1 billion in 2020, it rose to $1,384 billion in 2022 and is expected to be just under $2 billion in 2025. There will definitely be plenty of money to be spent and made in esports by brands and competitors as professional gaming expands further in China and other large, developing countries.
Another notable trend to watch for is gaming’s influence on youth culture and the “New General Market.” As mentioned earlier, Twitch has about 15 million daily active users, who have the power to influence purchasing patterns. Previous generations may’ve been influenced by traditional athletes, musicians, and movie stars, but a good segment of Generation Z is getting their inspiration from gaming streamers.
As gaming has developed into a unique segment of youth culture over the last few years, gamers, particularly game streamers, have affected film, music, and television. In order to understand how gaming will influence culture and brands in the future, it’s important to take a deeper dive into the numbers.
Youth Culture, New General Market, and Gaming
Among American users of Twitch in 2023, 93% were under the age of 50 and 67% were between the ages of 20 and 40. Brands should pay particular attention to these numbers, especially when they consider the effects that the New General Market will have on the gaming industry.
The term “market” in this context simply refers to the market or audience that brands are trying to reach, while “General Market” refers to the majority of the greater market, often in ethnic terms. On the other side of the General Market was the multicultural market, but as Generation Z is set to be the last predominantly white American generation, the New General Market will take on a new look and definition. Game developers and brands have already recognized this cultural shift to the New General Market from the diversity of characters users can play to advertising that focuses on a younger, more culturally diverse audience. Expect developers and brands to continue this trend for the foreseeable future.
There is no doubt that youth culture will continue to affect and be affected by gaming, especially streaming. It’s important for brands to know that like the video games gamers enjoy, the industry is constantly moving and influencing the greater culture, while also being influenced by it. There is plenty of opportunity for economic growth that brands can take advantage of in terms of advertising and sponsorships in esports and streaming platforms, as well as in the development of games, but the most successful brands will those that understand the role young people play in driving trends, especially the emerging New General Market.
With over two decades of experience in the market research industry, Rudly Raphael stands out as a seasoned professional, renowned for his expertise in extracting actionable insights and driving strategic decision-making.
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