Computer and Video Game Design

Popular interactive games range from sedate word games like Words with Friends to high-adrenaline, first-person shooters like the Call of Duty series. Games may invite players to interact with highly complex simulated worlds such as the one in Second Life or involve the simple slingshot action of Angry Birds. Players can find games on many hardware platforms, from arcade machines to home consoles to smartphones. In fact, 60 percent of gamers are now playing on their smartphones.

From its beginning in the early 1970s, with the simple geometric action of Pong, to today's high-definition stereoscopic games, the industry has pushed the limits of the available computer resources and has inspired advanced technologies that later became common on desktop and mobile devices.

The industry provides entertainment for 164 million Americans and generated $43.4 billion of sales in 2018, including software, hardware, and accessories. By comparison, sales totaled $22.4 billion in 2014. Content accounted for $35.8 billion of overall sales in 2018, up from $30 billion the previous year and $25 billion in 2016.

One indication of the reach of the industry is the fact that 75 percent of American households have at least one gamer. Although video games have the image of being primarily a diversion for teenage boys, the average player is 33 years old, and the most frequent game purchasers are adults, who buy 38 percent of PC games, 37 percent of smartphone games, and 33 percent of console games. Forty-six percent of all gamers are female. The industry sometimes faces the criticism that it desensitizes gamers to violence and encourages social isolation, although there is little research to support these beliefs.

Game hardware development finances the cutting-edge innovative efforts of many computer hardware engineers and technicians. Game development involves designers, artists, voice actors, programmers, computer software engineers, and testers. Marketers and a network of distributors bring the games to players. With such a large base of players, the industry also supports numerous fan publications, many of them Web-based. Popular characters and settings have inspired movies, such as the Lara Croft and Resident Evil series, and television shows, such as The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!

Japan's early leadership in miniaturized electronics helped it become an early leader in the video game industry. For example, Japan's Nintendo owns two of the most popular video game series of all time, Pokémon and Mario Brothers, which have spun off countless toys, trading cards, cartoons, and other products. According to the market research firm, Newzoo, Japan was the world's third-largest video game market in 2018, trailing only the United States and China. Mobile games, in particular, were achieving strong growth in Japan at the end of the decade.

The major U.S. trade shows for the industry are the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Summit, Game Developers Conference, and Gen Con.