We all know it; in the world of entertainment, video games are quickly and convincingly beginning to take over. In 2012, the movie industry pulled in around $87 billion dollars. Video games in 2012 pulled in $66 billion. The number for movies comes from everything: box office profits, DVD sales, TV, etc. The number for video games includes mobile games, console games, etc. A big thing to keep in mind with these numbers is that video games are on an obvious rise, and movies are on a steady decline.
More to my point
I don’t believe that $66 billion includes profits of gaming related websites, specifically YouTube. YouTube has made an incredible breakthrough over the last couple of years that has reinvented entertainment. The best part is that entertainment from YouTube is all selected by us, the viewers. What’s big on YouTube is big because we gave it the power. We choose the type of entertainment we want; a huge part of which is video game related content.
We, the Gamers
Having chosen what we want over cable television and other traditional media, the fulfillment of this is about to come into full swing. I’m confident in this now, after seeing the above video with Conan O’Brien. I don’t know if Conan realizes how huge a break through his statement really is.
Conan explains how his ‘Let’s Play’ of Tomb Raider was huge for him. He said it matched his style of comedy exactly. He explained, in-depth, the business background and how the situation was a complete, all around win. Conan O’Brien is a huge force in the world of TV, and he admits a ‘Let’s Play’ style of video is a great form of entertainment and a great business model.
It’s hard to think of someone who is higher on the food chain of comedy than Conan O’Brien. He just approved one of our favorite forms of entertainment.
So just to sum up what I mean: it’s hard to think of someone who is higher on the food chain of comedy than Conan O’Brien. He just approved one of our favorite forms of entertainment. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised when we see the likes of TotalBiscuit on The Tonight Show or something similar.
Another video that sparked my imagination of the future of entertainment was this:
This video also backs up my feelings on how popular entertainment around video games is naturally gaining speed because of us. It’s not some media giant with a conference table deciding what we will watch.
Maybe Wishful Thinking
This brings me to another point that I think might just be wishful thinking on my part, but here goes. I like to think that gamers in general are more informed than most groups. Yes, you can poke holes in that statement all you want, but to put it more plainly, I think gamers don’t put up with bullshit. Honestly, anyone poking holes in my statement is proving my point. We do that with everything we hold dear (video games in this case).
Take the months leading up to the Xbox One release, for example. I don’t necessarily agree with all the mass complaints about the Xbox One, but it proves my point. A huge percentage of gamers out there got their bullshit gland tickled, and all hell broke loose. It was months of endless outrage from a huge community towards Microsoft and you better believe they heard it. I’m sure it gave some of the employees nightmares even. I don’t think many other industries have that kind of customer backlash. I could come up with examples all day, I don’t even have to explain this one.
Two letters will do: EA.
See, your brain just started recalling all the things about EA. My grand point to explaining that is, we shape our industry. Video games will evolve as a result of us, the games, more than any other industry. To convince you even more, other industries are taking note… researching… using… ecstatic to get their brains around how well our industry builds community and crowd sources good content. The list of things that the video game industry has pioneered goes on and on.
Need more convincing? Here is a great series from howstuffworks.com that gives you a quick overview of how video games started out, how they’ve evolved and the huge impact they have made to the world at large. It was yet another video that got me thinking.
The sky is the limit for video games, who else is excited for the future?
Edit: I noticed this today and it drove my point home yet again. Conan is completely on board with video games now it seems.
