We have been witnesses to a major expansion of online gaming over the last decade. From the early days of the internet when online gaming was just another option, we have come to a time when playing games over the internet has become a norm for millions of gamers around the world.
We wanted to know more about the growing online gaming business and what exactly influenced the rapid growth of online gaming. We talked to Lucas Mollberg, an expert on the gaming industry and asked some questions about online gaming.
Hello Lucas and thank you for taking the time to talk to us! First thing is first, can you tell us just how large the online gaming industry is, and how fast has it grown?
Hello and thank you for having me! The online gaming industry is really massive and has been on a major uptick for years. Some of the last numbers I have access to saw the gaming industry rake in some $151 Billion in revenues in 2019, and a big chunk of this falls off to online games. Compared to 2013, this is double the number, which means there is constant growth across the board.
Some estimates say that there are 2.7 Billion gamers across the world today, which is an astounding number. Of course, not all of these are equally as hardcore but the number is so large that you simply have to consider gaming, and online gaming in particular, as one of the major industries of our world.
Do you think the global pandemic that hit us in 2020 helped the online gaming industry or slowed it down? What do the stats say?
It is still somewhat early to talk about specific stats, but I can definitely say that the trend has been positive across the board for the online gaming industry. So many people were stuck at home and online gaming was a great pastime during this period, which lasted quite a long time. Many new players joined various types of games.
Personally, I have a lot of insights into the iGaming industry, and according to Bestbonus.co.nz, the trend for online casinos and betting sites has been very positive. The numbers of players and the revenue have all gone up, with players seemingly really enjoying the dozens of new games that were created in 2020.
What about the future of online gaming? Is there still room for growth and in what direction do you thing gaming is going to go over the next decade?
Online gaming is only going to get bigger in the next decade, and there is nearly no stopping it. People really don’t enjoy single player games as much anymore, because the thrill of playing with others is much greater. I believe online gaming will keep growing for many years to come, both in terms of player numbers and hours a player spends playing the games.
The strides in the virtual reality technology are also interesting, and I believe that in some ten years we should have access to easily accessible and truly playable VR games, which should be a huge hit among the players. Of course, there is some debate on just how positive these trends are in terms of other social aspects, but you can’t really stop progress, only control which direction it takes!
Thank you so much for talking to us Lucas, and we hope that we will have you back to talk about online gaming again in the future, maybe when the time comes for VR games to really take over!