In the leisure and entertainment sector of 2021, gaming is serious business. The industry's rising profile as a pastime for people of all ages and backgrounds is firmly established and a recent report from Accenture shows it now generates more revenue than movies and music combined.
The surge in gaming has certainly been helped by enforced changes in habits during the recent crisis. However, this is more than a temporary spike. Gaming is here to stay, and it is redefining our leisure time.
The future is now
We've been hearing for the past five years or more that the future is mobile. However, today, it is accurate to say that the present is mobile. From checking emails to attending video conferences, consumers are casting aside their laptops and PCs. Even a budget handset is more than capable of performing the everyday tasks that would previously have been performed sitting at a desk and typing on a keyboard.
The same applies in the world of gaming. Mobile now accounts for more than 50 percent of the market. The effect has been to open the world of gaming to a far wider audience. Playing games on a console, and to a lesser extent on a PC, involves investment and effort. However, almost 90 percent of adults own a smartphone. We turn to them in idle moments and it takes a matter of seconds to download a game. This shift has also changed the profile of the average gamer.
Place your bets
The traditional "gamer geek" is now a small niche of the overall gaming market. Gaming has hit the mainstream and as with any industry, the most attractive demographics are those with time on their hands and money to spare. It should come as no real surprise, therefore, to learn that casino gaming has been one of the fastest growing genres over the past couple of years.
Online casinos have been rising in popularity since long before words like "lockdown" and "social distancing" entered our everyday vocabularies. However, the combination of players finding themselves with time to spare and physical casinos being closed lead to a real boom in 2020. The sector has become incredibly competitive and this page gives an indication of the various giveaways and promotions that sites are offering in an attempt to gain market share.
Staying social
Where gaming has truly captured the imagination over the past year or so is as a means of social interaction. This is what really sets it apart from other more solitary leisure pursuits like watching a movie or reading a book. Games like Fortnite and League of Legends allow friends to engage in virtual battle when far apart.
But again, the phenomenon runs deeper. Words With Friends has been the mobile gaming phenomenon of the past decade and like everything else, has been more popular than ever over the past year. What better way to spend time with an elderly loved one than over a simple word game? It shows that times might not have changed quite so much after all.
