Video game industry

This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. (January 2018)

Part of a series on the
Video game industry
Development Producer Developer Designer Artist Programmer Design Level design Programming Engine AI Creation system Graphics Music Testing
Products Video game Specialized / alternative-paradigmatic types: Casual Erotic Indie Interactive movie Nonviolent Serious Art game Edugame Exergame Non-game Arcade cabinet Console Accessory
Publishing Markets China U.S. Japan South Korea Localization Censorship Content rating Piracy Clone Intellectual property protection Digital rights management Copy protection
Distribution and monetization Buy-to-play AAA game Expansion pack Episodic video game Early access Crowdfunding Downloadable content Games as a service Cloud gaming Free-to-play Microtransactions In-game currency Loot box gacha Season pass Battle pass Advertising in video games in-game Advergame
Related Game studies Game journalism
Lists List of video game developers Indie List of video game publishers List of video game industry people List of video game websites List of video game magazines
v t e

The video game industry is the tertiary and quaternary sectors of the entertainment industry that specialize in the development, marketing, distribution, monetization, and consumer feedback of video games. The industry encompasses dozens of job disciplines and thousands of jobs worldwide.^[1]

The video game industry has grown from niche to mainstream.^[2] As of July 2018^[update], video games generated US$134.9 billion annually in global sales.^[3] In the US, the industry earned about $9.5 billion in 2007, $11.7 billion in 2008, and US$25.1 billion in^[update] 2010,^[4] according to the ESA annual report. Research from Ampere Analysis indicated three points: the sector has consistently grown since at least 2015 and expanded 26% from 2019 to 2021, to a record $191 billion; the global games and services market is forecast to shrink 1.2% annually to $188 billion in 2022.^[5]

The industry has influenced the technological advancement of personal computers through sound cards, graphics cards and 3D graphic accelerators, CPUs, and co-processors like PhysX.^{[citation needed]} Sound cards, for example, were originally developed for games and then improved for adoptation by the music industry.^{[citation needed]}