Video Games Video Games

Issue: Video Games

Video Games

By: Lisa Rabasca Roepe

Pub. Date: November 20, 2017 Access Date: September 25, 2021 DOI: 10.1177/237455680334.n1 Source URL: http://businessresearcher.sagepub.com/sbr-1863-104726-2866776/20171120/video-games ©2021 SAGE Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ©2021 SAGE Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Will mobile devices, VR and AR fuel expansion? Executive Summary

The video game industry is growing in size, technological sophistication and social reach. More people are playing, more are playing in groups and the demographics of the business are changing, belying the old image of the typical gamer as a male teenager and often a loner. The industry is spreading beyond entertainment to play a role in employee training, education and health care. The widespread use of mobile phones has increased the reach of gaming, and the development of innovations such as virtual reality and augmented reality create opportunities for expansion. Here are some key takeaways: Nearly half of the U.S. adult population plays video games, according to a Pew Research Center survey. Consumer spending on games in 2016 exceeded $30 billion, fueling an industry that employs more than 65,000 workers and added $11.7 billion to the nation’s GDP, according to industry data. Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo continue to dominate the gaming business, even as some participants move to play on mobile devices. Full Report

The 2017 world championship final of the League of Legends was played in the same Beijing stadium that hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

Will Azevedo spends three to four hours each day playing Dota 2, a popular free-to-play online video game in which two teams of five players try to destroy each other’s base. The 25-year-old freelance writer, who lives in Portugal, has been playing video games since he was 5, and he took up Dota 2 when it was released in 2013. Like most gamers, Azevedo does not see video games as a solitary activity because he is playing with friends and meeting new people online. “For me, gaming is one of the best things to happen in my life,” he says. “I got to know new people, it helped me through rough times, it taught me the English language and it never stood in my way of achieving greater things.”

For the gaming industry, Azevedo’s story represents good news. More people are playing video games, and more are playing in groups. No longer is gaming the activity of a loner. The combination of improved technology, such as sophisticated graphics and the ability to play games on smartphones, and the sheer size of the market – 49 percent of U.S. adults play video games – is fueling strong industry growth. 1 Yet video games are not just for fun anymore. The industry is poised to grow beyond entertainment and play an essential role in employee training, education and health care. At the same time, video games are bidding to replace traditional forms of entertainment, including board games, watching television and sporting events and going to the movies. Thirty-six million viewers watched the League of Legends World Championship finals in 2015, about 12 million more than the audience for the decisive seventh game of the NBA finals in 2016 – which was the NBA’s most-watched game ever, based on Nielsen viewing data. 2 (In League of Legends, two teams of powerful computer-controlled champions compete head-to-head across multiple online battlefields, similar to how two teams face each other in sports.) Bolstered by the spreading use of mobile apps and other innovations, the U.S. video game industry is one of the nation’s fastest-growing economic sectors. Consumer spending in 2016 totaled $30.4 billion, up from $25 billion in 2010, according to Statista. 3 The industry employed 65,678 workers, earning an average of $97,000 a year, adding $11.7 billion to the national gross domestic product, according to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), an industry association. 4 The 50-year-old industry is poised for further expansion, thanks to innovations such as virtual reality (VR), the computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image that users can interact with, and augmented reality (AR), a computer-generated image that is superimposed on the user’s view of the real world. Through VR and AR, the video gaming industry is advancing beyond entertainment into more serious fields, including education, employee training and health care. “There is a huge opportunity in the workplace to gamify different tasks and jobs using AR,” says Gaia Dempsey, vice president of business operations at DAQRI, a Los Angeles-based company that makes AR-enabled helmets and glasses for the aerospace, defense and engineering industries. For instance, AR can place 3-D objects, work instructions and reference materials in an employee’s view while he or she is working, making for more efficient and accurate work. The first video game, Spacewar!, was introduced in 1961 by developer Steve Russell. The graphics were minimal and only two persons could play, but the basic storyline – two spaceships battling each other while orbiting a central star – has themes still common in many of today’s games. 5 Multiple players can now participate in games, and most feature eye-popping graphics and combine action, role-playing and strategy. And that combination is what draws in most gamers. Javier Banuelos, 31, a real estate investor in California, says playing League of Legends allows him to escape for a few hours and experience an interactive world in which he becomes the character and has the ability to make decisions and affect the outcome. Despite the industry’s size, three major players – Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo – continue to control the market. Sony dominated the 2016 console market with its PlayStation 4 (53 million sold), followed by Microsoft’s Xbox One (26 million sold) and Nintendo’s Wii U (15 million sold), according to research company SuperData. 6 “Gamers will self-select into how they want to play the game,” says Simon Erickson, a lead adviser at Motley Fool, the financial website. While many players are using mobile, many others still use consoles that are internet-connected, making it very easy for them to download new content, he says. The Video Game Market

Any game played on an electronic device, including a personal computer, gaming console, smartphone or tablet, is considered a video game. Before smartphones and tablets, gamers were tethered to their computers or gaming consoles such as PlayStation, Xbox or the Wii. The advent of the smartphone has brought gaming out of the house and into the world. In fact, mobile gaming on smartphones and the introduction of free-to-play games – which allow gamers to play without cost but charges them for extra items during play time – has driven much of the industry’s growth, according to Juniper Research, a firm that provides market intelligence and forecasting for the mobile, online and digital markets. 7 Almost 56 percent of the U.S. population of all ages played mobile games in 2016, according to Statista, and that number is predicted to reach 64 percent by 2020. 8 Most of the growth in video games over the past five years has come from mobile games downloaded from an app store, says Piers Harding-Rolls, director of research and analysis, games, at IHS Markit, a global analytics company based in London. “Because the world is full of smartphones, gaming is much more accessible,” says Nicole Opas, vice president of games at Zynga, creators of the gaming apps FarmVille and Words With Friends. In addition to introducing new players to video games, mobile gaming has created a new and lucrative revenue stream for the industry.

Before mobile devices, video game publishers would typically sell each game for $30 to $60 and the transaction would end there. Today, players can purchase extra items while playing on a mobile device, console or computer to improve and personalize their playing experience and make their character more successful over time. Watch video below on video games with Nina Huntemann of edX.

Instead of luring players to buy a new game every few months, video game publishers hope to engage them in one or two games over an extended period and collect additional revenues from in-game purchases. “Video games are just like movies,” Erickson says. “Developers want to stick with what they know will work and is already familiar to their audience.” That is why so many expansion sets for games such as Final Fantasy, World of Warcraft and Call of Duty are released year after year, he adds. “The goal is to keep them in the game over months and years, and get them to spend money over time on microtransactions,” Harding- Rolls says. On average, mobile gamers spent $87 on in-game purchases while playing free games in 2015. That is about $5 less than most console and PC players spent on software and in-game purchases. 9 Microtransactions are not just for mobile games. They also are available to PC and console players such as Azevedo. In the four years he has been playing Dota 2, Azevedo says he has spent more than $500 on in-game purchases. Banuelos says that he has spent so much money on in-game purchases, he has lost track. In-game purchases are a large part of the industry’s revenue stream, Erickson says. Activision has sold more than 200 million copies of Call of Duty, a first-person shooter video game, and made about $15 billion in upfront sales. But the company has generated another $5 billion from in-game purchases, Erickson says. The Social Aspect of Video Games

Video gamers number more than 2 billion worldwide – and they are not all teenage boys. In the United States, more than half of those ages 30 to 49 play video games, along with 40 percent of those ages 50 to 64 and 25 percent of those 65 or older, according to a 2015 survey by the Pew Research Center. 10 Another popular misconception is that most gamers are men; in reality, players are evenly split by gender, with 50 percent of men and 48 percent of women playing video games, Pew found. 11 While games on consoles and PCs have been traditionally male-dominated, the shift to mobile gaming has increased the number of women playing. In particular, games that can be played cooperatively, such as FarmVille and Words With Friends, have encouraged more women to participate in video games, Opas says. Seton Morley Harney, 53, of Staten Island, N.Y., does not think of herself as a gamer, but she has been playing Words With Friends for almost a decade. The multiplayer game in which players take turns building words has helped her reconnect with friends from high school as well as distant family members. It also gives players the option to be randomly matched with someone they don’t know, and Harney was recently paired with a player in London. “We play and chat about the weather,” she says. Increasingly, video games have become a shared experience, whether it is playing with other gamers either virtually or in person or watching other people playing a video game on Twitch – a live streaming platform for video games – or YouTube and chatting about it online, Opas says. According to ESA, 53 percent of the most frequent gamers play multiplayer games at least once a week, spend an average of six hours playing with others online and five hours playing with friends and family in person. 12 Gamers are increasingly watching professional video gaming, known as eSports, in which international teams compete for cash prizes that can total more than $1 million. Since 2010, League of Legends tournaments have paid out more than $48 million in prize money. 13 More than 100 million viewers log onto Twitch each month to watch people play video games, and nearly half the users spend more than 20 hours a week watching content, according to DMR, a firm that collects facts and statistics on technology and gadgets. 14 Many call Twitch the ESPN of live gaming, with more than 600,000 players broadcasting several millions hours of gameplay on the platform each month. And eSports has become a way to create and maintain a loyal fan base that can help advertise the game and drive sales. 15 Video game publishers are increasingly doing live announcements on Twitch and using the platform as an engagement tool, Harding-Rolls says. “Twitch is huge entertainment for me,” Azevedo says. Like many gamers, he likes to watch professionals so he can improve his skills. He

Page 4 of 12 Video Games SAGE Business Researcher ©2021 SAGE Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved. also is chatting online with other viewers, just as he would discuss any event in real life with a group of friends. “I usually use the chat to react to a good play or when something funny happens,” he says. Augmented Reality, the Next Frontier

The next big step for the industry will be perfecting AR and VR games and devices. International Data Corp. (IDC), a market research firm, estimates that worldwide revenues for the total AR/VR market will grow from $5.2 billion in 2016 to more than $162 billion in 2020. More than 50 percent of those revenues will be generated by hardware, including smart eyewear and goggles, IDC predicts. 16 Gamers were able to try out AR when Niantic Labs introduced Pokémon GO last July. The game uses a smartphone’s GPS to turn a neighborhood into a virtual Pokémon world, allowing players to find and capture the cute pocket monsters in their backyard, the grocery store, a nearby park and anywhere else people congregate. “Pokémon GO was fantastic for the AR industry because suddenly millions who had never experienced AR got a taste of it,” says Dempsey. “But it was a very small taste.” However, after the novelty wore off, most gamers turned off the AR feature of the game because it drained their device’s battery too quickly. “The success of Pokémon GO was the branding and name recognition,” says Harding-Rolls. “It was a reimagining of a nostalgic experience which people grew up with, and it introduced new players to the game.”

A boy and his father play Pokémon GO at Yokohama Stadium in Japan in August. (Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images)

It is easier to get people interested in a video game if consumers already know the plot line and characters, Erickson says. As of February 2017, the game had been downloaded 650 million times. 17 The game had generated $788 million in revenue from in-game microtransactions through the end of 2016. 18 In November, Niantic announced plans to introduce another AR game, called Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. “Players will learn spells, explore their real world neighborhoods and cities to discover and fight legendary beasts, and team up with others to take down powerful enemies,” according to a press release about the game. 19 Given Pokémon GO’s success, many expected it to pave the way for more AR mobile games. Yet none has been as successful, partly because most AR apps are not using big franchise licenses like Pokémon to drive interest like Pokémon GO did, says Harding-Rolls. In addition, many AR apps are not games but rather are related to e-commerce. For instance, Ikea has an AR-enabled app that allows shoppers to virtually place furniture in their home.

Because smartphones are not designed for AR, it is difficult to design anything more complicated than a simple overlay of AR on a device’s mapping services. To do something more immersive, users would need to wear AR glasses, but there is a cost barrier for consumers, Dempsey says. AR glasses produced by DAQRI and used by aerospace, defense and engineering industries to complete complex tasks cost $5,000 a pair, she says. Even Apple CEO Tim Cook agreed that the technology to create AR glasses for consumers is not there yet. “I can tell you the technology itself doesn’t exist to do that in a quality way,” Cook told the British newspaper The Independent. 20 Although Facebook’s virtual-reality subsidiary, Oculus, is working to create AR glasses at a price that won’t break the bank, Michael Abrash, the chief scientist of Oculus, says he doesn’t expect AR glasses to replace smartphones until 2022. 21 Beyond Video Games

Where AR is taking off is in the aerospace, engineering and defense industries. DAQRI is producing state-of-the-art AR glasses and helmets that can display information and instructions over a worker’s environment, enabling them to complete a complex task, such as inspecting a bridge or turbine, more easily. A recent case study from Siemens-Gamesa, a renewable energy company, found that employees were able to complete turbine inspections 44 percent faster with an AR-enabled helmet, Dempsey says. Accuracy also increased by 33 percent. AR can place 3-D objects, work instructions, diagrams and reference materials in an employee’s view while conducting an inspection, making the worker more efficient and the work more accurate by eliminating the need to return to the office to check documents, Dempsey says. Workers also do not have to rely on memory. Everything they need is available to them virtually whenever they need it. Even without AR, about 70 percent of employers are using interactive software and video games to train employees, according to ESA. 22 Studies have shown that video games can improve learning. In a recent study published in the journal Behavioural Brain Research, neuropsychologists let video gamers compete against non-gamers in a learning competition and found gamers performed significantly better than others and showed an increased activity in the brain areas that are relevant for learning. 23 “We think that playing video games trains certain brain regions like the hippocampus,” which is associated with memory, emotions and motivation, said researcher Sabrina Schenk. “That is not only important for young people, but also for older people; this is because changes in the hippocampus can lead to a decrease in memory performance. Maybe we can treat that with video games in the future.” Game Content Spending Jumped Last Year

U.S. consumer spending on gaming, 2010–16

Source: “Consumer spending on gaming in the United States from 2010 to 2016, by segment (in billion U.S. dollars),” Statista, 2017, https://tinyurl.com/ycarhr6c

U.S. consumers spent a record $24.5 billion on gaming content in 2016, an increase of almost 50 percent from 2015. Action and shooter games were the biggest sellers.

Further evidence of the cognitive benefits of video games comes from a 2016 Yale University study that found students who played a brain-training video game for 20 minutes three times a week for four months performed better on reading and math tests than their peers who did not. 24 In fact, the students who played the video game got better results on math exams than did students who received one-on- one coaching. Some schools are even incorporating Minecraft, a video game that allows players to build structures using 3-D blocks, to teach math concepts including ratios and proportions and to foster student creativity and collaboration. 25 An educational edition of Minecraft was introduced last November. Instructors are using it to teach history by having students create the Roman Colosseum or other historical sites; in English classes by assigning students to write stories based on their Minecraft character and creations, and to test reading comprehension by asking students to create a scene from a story they just read in class. Video games are also being used in health care settings for both older and younger patients. Hospitals, for example, are exploring the use of virtual reality in patient care to help relieve pain, improve cognitive function and to make physical therapy easier. Studies have shown virtual reality eases pain by distracting patients from what is bothering them. 26 It can also help patients complete their physical therapy by incorporating a video game that encourages movement. 27 Meanwhile, a group of doctors developed a video game to help children deal with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and emotional issues. “Video games have a lot of power inside them,” says Jason Kahn, co-founder and chief science officer for Mighteor, creators of video games that help children practice emotional control, and a research associate at Harvard Medical School. “They can mimic life, and you can face the same type of challenges in life as in video game, except they are broken down a bit differently so you can work on your cognitive functions.” With a video game, children simultaneously work on developing emotional control or deal with anxiety while staying calm. The game teaches the children to take deep breaths, control their heart rate and regulate their emotions when they start to get upset, angry or anxious, Kahn says. If it does not go well, they can hit the reset button and try again. The best part, he says, is that kids like to play video games, so there is less resistance to treatment.

“Video games are a world that kids are familiar with,” Kahn says. “You get to meet them in a space they are familiar with and build expertise on their terms.” Future Growth

While AR and VR are expanding the video game market beyond entertainment, it would not be surprising to see increased consolidation among game producers. Companies are narrowing down their portfolios to a select number of titles, especially for consoles, says Harding-Rolls. While there will always be many new gaming apps entering the market each year, the number of high-end releases will decline over time because they are expensive to produce, he says. “The strategy is to engage players over a number of years,” he says. There also will be more globalization in the industry, Harding-Rolls says. The Chinese market is larger than the U.S. one and continues to grow, he says. In fact, Tencent, the largest video gaming company in China, has a stake in Activision and a majority stake in Riot Games, the developer of League of Legends. 28 The company plans to bring its popular Honor of Kings game to the United States and Europe. The multiplayer online battle game is similar to League of Legends but is played on a smartphone, not a console. In September, Nintendo struck a deal with Tencent to bring the game to its Switch platform, which can be used as a home console and as a handheld device. 29 There is no question that Tencent has global ambitions, Harding-Rolls says. About the Author

Lisa Rabasca Roepe is a journalist who writes about the culture of work, personal finance, the media and technology. Her work has appeared in Fast Company, Ozy.com, Good, Quartz, The Week, HR Magazine, Men’s Journal and Eater. She also is a Forbes contributor. She has written previously for SAGE Business Researcher on Business Accelerators, Craft Brewers and the Restaurant Business. Chronology

1950–1999 Games progress from arcades to the internet. 1950s Video games make their debut as academic training tools. 1961 The first video game, Spacewar!, is introduced by developer Steve Russell. 1972 Atari Corp. introduces Pong, a video game playable only in arcades.… Magnavox rolls out the first dedicated video game console for homes. 1975 Atari releases a home edition of Pong and sells 150,000 units. 1985 Nintendo begins selling a limited number of Nintendo Entertainment Systems in New York City along with 17 video games, including Duck Hunt and Gyromite (both included with the console). 1986 Sega introduces its home video console in the United States. 1989 Nintendo releases its Game Boy, a handheld video game with a 2.6-inch screen and an addictive game called Tetris. 1994 Sony enters the video game market with PlayStation. 1998 Sega introduces Dreamcast, the first internet-enabled gaming console; however, it proves unable to compete with Sony and Nintendo because it failed to appeal widely to gamers, particularly casual players. 2000–Present Games go mobile, increase in number and sophistication. 2000 Sony unveils the PlayStation 2, which goes on to sell 150 million units. 2001 Microsoft enters the video gaming console market with Xbox. 2004 Nintendo introduces a dual-screen, handheld video gaming device with a touch screen and built in WiFi to compete with Sony’s PlayStation Portable. 2005 Microsoft’s Xbox 360 appears, featuring an online service, Xbox Live, which allows users to play games online, download games and game demos, as well as purchase and stream music, television programs and films.

2006 Nintendo introduces the Wii, a video game console designed for families and social events. Players control the characters through movements, not just buttons on a gaming console.… Sony’s PlayStation 3 debuts to compete with Microsoft’s Xbox 360. 2007 Apple unveils the iPhone and opens its App Store in 2008, creating a platform for developers to introduce and create mobile gaming. 2009 Riot Games releases League of Legends, currently one of the most played video games in the world. 2013 Value Corp. releases Dota 2, one of the most popular games globally. 2015 More people watch the 2015 League of Legends World Championship finals on Twitch, a live-streaming platform, than will watch the decisive seventh game of the 2016 NBA finals. 2017 The Chinese company Tencent announces plans to release its popular game, Honor of Kings, in the United States and Europe.

Resources for Further Study Bibliography

Books

Hansen, Dustin, “Game On! Video Game History from Pong and Pac-Man to Mario, Minecraft, and More,” Feiwel & Friends, 2016. A video game executive looks at the growth of games. Harris, Blake J., “Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation,” Dey Street Books, 2014. A writer chronicles how Sega, a small gaming company, took on the juggernaut Nintendo and revolutionized the video game industry. Schreier, Jason, “Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made,” Harper Paperbacks, 2017. This book explores the artistic challenges, technical impossibilities and marketplace demands of developing popular video games.

Articles

Anderton, Kevin, “The Business Of Video Games: A Multi Billion Dollar Industry,” Forbes, April 29, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/ydc9nlh8. The video gaming industry is continuing to grow and employs nearly 66,000 workers, a graphics designer writes. Coppock, Mark, “Gaming market explodes for $91 billion in 2016, led by mobile and PC games,” Digital Trends, Dec. 22, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/y7wlkdph. The overall gaming market is growing, and mobile games led the way, but PC gaming also expanded in 2016, according to industry data. Desjardins, Jeff, “How video games became a $100 billion industry,” Business Insider, Jan. 12, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/yb8vehrr. A writer offers a detailed look at the evolution of the video games market and the emergence of mobile gaming. Miller, Chance, “Tim Cook touts the future of AR, says the technology isn’t there yet for AR glasses,” 9to5Mac, Oct. 10, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/ybyytmlq. The Apple CEO looks at the future of augmented reality. Popper, Ben, “Field of streams: how Twitch made video games a spectator sport,” The Verge, Sept. 30, 2013, http://tinyurl.com/ycc58jon. A streaming service helps transform eSports from a “niche sideshow” to a centerpiece of the gaming industry. Shapiro, T. Rees, “Can video games make kids smarter? Yale University researchers think so,” The Washington Post, Sept. 15, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/y7mlcc6n. A study concludes that playing video games can increase learning capacity in elementary school students.

Reports and Studies

“Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry,” Entertainment Software Association, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/yb9qdhed. This annual report from the industry trade association surveys more than 4,000 American households about their video game playing habits and attitudes. Duggan, Maeve, “Gaming and Gamers,” Pew Research Center, Dec. 15, 2015, http://tinyurl.com/qdva6xf. A Washington research group offers an overview of players and the public’s attitudes toward video games. Page 9 of 12 Video Games SAGE Business Researcher ©2021 SAGE Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The Next Step

Innovation

Gallagher, Michael D., “Video games virtually certain to drive future innovation,” The Hill, July 5, 2017, https://tinyurl.com/ybw9pkrj. More than 300 exhibitors displayed their latest innovations at E3, the industry’s largest video games trade show, over the summer. Matheson, Rob, “Demo day showcases serious innovation in ‘playful’ tech,” MIT News, Aug. 17, 2017, https://tinyurl.com/ydh4s557. An accelerator backed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and two other groups is providing startup funding to “playful” gaming technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). Patterson, Dan, “Game companies are forerunners of the next wave of business tech innovation,” TechRepublic, July 21, 2017, https://tinyurl.com/yalylhbu. Video game developers are pioneering innovations found in the business technology industry, says the developer of Albion Online, a medieval fantasy game.

Training

Becker, Rachel, “Say what? Playing a puzzle video game could help improve your hearing,” The Verge, Oct. 20, 2017, https://tinyurl.com/y8whprbn. The Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Harvard Medical School have developed a video game to help the elderly with hearing loss to train themselves to track speech in noisy environments. Dobkin, Adin, “The Video Game That Could Shape the Future of War,” The Atlantic, Oct. 26, 2017, https://tinyurl.com/ya4wspue. Operation Overmatch, a video game that pits two teams of eight U.S. soldiers against each other in a simulated digital battle, is helping the Army determine which technologies and tactics are most effective. Vanian, Jonathan, “Farmers Insurance Is Using the Oculus Rift to Train Workers in Virtual Reality,” Fortune, Oct. 25, 2017, https://tinyurl.com/y9vjfj5d. Farmers Insurance is relying on Oculus Rift, a virtual reality program, to simulate home damage scenarios that claims adjusters might encounter after earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters. Organizations

DAQRI 1201 W. 5th St., Suite T-900, Los Angeles, CA 90017 1-213-375-8830 https://daqri.com/ A company that has created augmented reality-enabled helmets and glasses for use by the aerospace, defense and engineering industries. Entertainment Software Association 1211 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20036 1-202-223-2400 www.theesa.com/ A U.S. trade association that supports the business and public affairs needs of companies that publish computer and video games for video game consoles, handheld devices, personal computers and the internet. IHS Markit 25 Ropemaker St., London, EC2Y 9LY, United Kingdom +44 20 7260 2000 https://ihsmarkit.com/ Global consulting firm that offers information about, and analysis of, industries and markets, including video games. Microsoft Corp. 1 Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052 1-800-642-7676 www.microsoft.com/en-us/ Creators of the Xbox 360 gaming console. Nintendo of America 4600 150th Ave., N.E., Redmond, WA 98052 1-425-882-2040 www.nintendo.com/ Gaming giant that created the Wii console.

Sony Corporation of America 25 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10010 1-212-833-6800 www.sony.com/ Creators of the PlayStation gaming console. Statista Inc. 55 Broad St., 30th floor, New York, NY 10004 1-212-433-2270 www.statista.com/ Company that provides an online portal for statistics, market research and business intelligence. Notes

[1] “Video Game Industry – Statistics & Facts,” Statistica, http://tinyurl.com/lcrw9wq; Maeve Duggan, “Gaming and Gamers,” Pew Research Center, Dec. 15, 2015, http://tinyurl.com/qdva6xf. [2] Alex Walker, “More People Watched League of Legends Than the NBA Finals,” Kotaku, June 21, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/y8tzsm4q. [3] “Consumer spending on gaming in the United States from 2010 to 2016, by segment,” Statista, http://tinyurl.com/ycarhr6c. [4] “Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry,” Entertainment Software Association, http://tinyurl.com/yb9qdhed. [5] Russell Brandom, “ ‘Spacewar!’ The story of the world’s first digital video game,” The Verge, Feb. 4, 2013, http://tinyurl.com/ybz76v6o. [6] Joe Tenebruso, “21 Video Game Stats That Will Blow You Away,” Motley Fool, Feb. 25, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/y7wu7ts2. [7] Luke Graham, “Digital Games Market to See Sales Worth $100 Billion This Year: Research,” CNBC, Feb. 15, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/y7mcot45. [8] “Video Game Industry – Statistics & Facts,” op. cit. [9] Rhys Cooper, “Mobile Game Microtransactions Earn More Than PC and Consoles,” SegmentNext, April 7, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/y83jcac7. [10] “Consumer spending on gaming in the United States from 2010 to 2016, by segment,” Statista, http://tinyurl.com/ycarhr6c; Duggan, op. cit. [11] Duggan, ibid. [12] “Two-Thirds of American Households Regularly Play Video Games,” Entertainment Software Association, April 19, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/ya9ldxb7. [13] “League of Legends,” e-Sports Earnings, http://tinyurl.com/yawfnqsy. [14] Craig Smith, “By the Numbers: 46 Amazing Twitch Stats and Facts (July 2017),” DMR, July 29, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/y85nlwa4. [15] Ben Popper, “Field of Streams: How Twitch Made Video Games a Spectator Sport,” The Verge, Sept. 30, 2013, http://tinyurl.com/ycc58jon. [16] “Worldwide Revenues for Augmented and Virtual Reality Forecast to Reach $162 Billion in 2020, According to IDC,” IDC, Aug. 15, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/zpcasse. [17] Samit Sarkar, “Pokémon Go Hits 650 Million Downloads,” Polygon, Feb. 27, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/y983mbd5. [18] Mark Coppock, “Gaming Market Explodes for $91 Billion in 2016, Led by Mobile and PC Games,” Digital Trends, Dec. 22, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/y7wlkdph. [19] “The Magic of Harry Potter is Coming to a Neighborhood Near You,” Niantic, Nov. 8, 2017, https://nianticlabs.com/blog/wizardsunite. [20] Chance Miller, “Tim Cook Touts the Future of AR, Says the Technology Isn’t There Yet for AR Glasses,” 9to5Mac, Oct. 10, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/ybyytmlq. [21] Alex Heath, “Facebook Is Working on Futuristic Smart Glasses – Here Are New Details,” Business Insider, Aug. 18, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/y7l3hkkf; Alexei Oreskovic, “Smartphones Will Officially Become Glasses in 2022, Facebook Exec Brashly Predicts,”

Business Insider, April 19, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/nxmort2. [22] “Use of Video Game Technology in the Workplace Increasing,” Entertainment Software Association, June 23, 2008, http://tinyurl.com/y9anlues. [23] “Video Gamers Have an Advantage in Learning,” Science Daily, Sept. 29, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/ybuu5mjq. [24] T. Rees Shapiro, “Can video games make kids smarter? Yale University researchers think so,” The Washington Post, Sept. 15, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/y7mlcc6n. [25] Andrew Miller, “Ideas for Using Minecraft in the Classroom,” Edutopia, Oct. 24, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/ya3duo5z. [26] “How Does Virtual Reality Ease Pain?” Newsmax Health, Sept. 18, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/ycnnxer4. [27] “Virtual Reality for Pain Management,” Pain Pathways, May 11, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/y7rew6op. [28] Rob LeFebvre “Tencent’s Hit Game ‘Honor of Kings’ Might Come to US and Europe,” Engadget, July 7, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/y8gzyocg. [29] Blake Hester, “Nintendo’s Tencent Partnership Could Open Door to Switch in China: WSJ,” Rolling Stone, Sept. 19, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/ybajfuqw.

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