Whether you’re a Guitar Hero Rock God, or if the extent of your gaming experience goes about as far as a game of computerized solitaire, it’s time to get to know the video gaming industry and it’s full potential.
Gaming has evolved quite a bit over the decades. The gaming industry of today is far what it was in the days of Pong and Arkanoid, but it’s some of the more recent developments that marketers should take note of.
With advancements in the interactive experience of gaming, previously separate areas of life are now starting to overlap with the gaming world. Games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band are on fire because of the way they bring the culture of the music industry into gaming. Not only can you listen to some of your favorite rock music, but you can become a member of the band and interact with the music experience in ways you never could before. I imagine games embracing Hip/Hop and Rap cultures aren’t far behind.
Nintendo’s Wii Fit is an even better example, as it fuses together activities that were previously thought to be in conflict, video games and physical fitness, and creates a seamless step-by-step program for anyone wanting to improve their physical health.
Things really start to get interesting when you imagine the possibilities for how other sections of life could overlap the gaming industry.
- What’s keeping Apple and Nike+ from adding a level of game play to their community for runners?
- How long before major food brands like Kraft or Nabisco create a game that mashes the world of cooking with gaming? (featuring branded recipes of course)
- Why couldn’t gaming platforms be leveraged as training methods for Do-it-Yourselfers?
We’re moving closer and closer towards a connected way of life. Only the brands that understand this will survive, and you can be certain that gaming will play a large role in that life.
A Short History
So you want to get to know the video game industry? Start with this video by Kyle Downes, which artfully presents a short visual history of video games.
(Via: PSFK)
A few more facts and figures about the gaming industry:
- CNBC gives their account of how the video game industry went from Pong and PacMan to a $27.5 billion industry.
- Video game advertising alone has a projected value at $1 to $2 billion.
- Gaming isn’t just for teens. 50% of American men and women play video games.
- The struggling music industry places bets on gaming.
I would like to take action to the proceeding commentary that was made in “An Intro to the Video Game Industry and Why it Matters” editorial:
-“Things really start to get interesting when you imagine the possibilities for how other sections of life could overlap the gaming industry.
* What’s keeping Apple and Nike+ from adding a level of game play to their community for runners?
* How long before major food brands like Kraft or Nabisco create a game that mashes the world of cooking with gaming? (featuring branded recipes of course)
* Why couldn’t gaming platforms be leveraged as training methods for Do-it-Yourselfers?”-
I will establish my ground by 86’ing the first comment made about Apple and Nike+ because that could possibly be happening with the Wii Balance Board created for the Wii Fit. It is an excellent observation that I, being in the Video Game industry, had as well made when I originally heard of Nintendo debut of introducing the Wii Fit.
As for the additional two that pertain to “brand based recipe games” and “do-it-yourselfers” is something that has already been done, ex: Cooking Academy, Build-a-lot, and Cooking Mama.
Chris,
Thanks for your comments. It is great to hear from someone that works in the industry every day.
I hope something integrating Nike+ will actually happen, in fact I am confident that it will happen. There is a huge opportunity there.
As for the cooking/do-it-yourself/edutainment idea: I know there have been games that are moving in this direction. But what I see as the next step for this category is what we have seen with the Wii Fit, where real life intersects with the gaming world and I actually and physically learn an activity hands on. When Cooking Mama lets you prepare real food during game play, then we will have entered a totally new phase of gaming.
Interesting article Chris, but let’s not forget about product placement – a staple of the film and TV industry for years. We’ve only begun to see the implementation of PP in video games and why it hasn’t exploded into a larger spread so far is a mystery to me.
When kids who aren’t yet old enough to drive spend 5 hours a day cruising the streets of Vice City why would it not be logical to present them with billboards for ‘real world’ products? I am sure there is a contingent of concerned parents out there ready to kick and scream over the concept of children being subjected to such marketing but I would hope their first concern would be not that their children are being pitched Sprite but rather that they get extra points for shooting cops and beating prostitutes.
All joking aside, I’m sure we are on the verge of a brave new video game world where ads are even more ubiquitous then they are in real life.
It is constantly awesome to see wherever know-how goes and the foreseeable future of gaming is no diverse. There are quite a few cool and incredibly revolutionary technologies arising. There is no way to tell which a single will make the subsequent large wave, but one particular point is for confident, it will have some thing to do with receiving rid of the remote as we know it!