We have written many articles about gaming on this website for a good reason. Gaming is an exploding industry which is expected to be worth as much as $200 billion worldwide by 2023.
In this article we have collected some interesting and fun facts about video games that you likely didn’t know, so let’s see them below:
1) These Are The Best-Selling Video Games Of All Time
Minecraft, Grand Theft Auto V, and Tetris are the best-selling video games of all time. They’ve sold 200 million, 140 million, and 100 million units respectively.
In fact, GTA V continues to sell millions of copies year in and year out. The top two titles sell on multiple platforms, but Tetris accumulated sales on mobile only.
Positions four and five belong to Wii Sports and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. Those titles have garnered lifetime sales of 83 million and 70 million respectively.
At this point, every game in the top five was released between 2006 and 2017. Each game is produced by a different studio, and each one covers a different genre.
(source: wikipedia)
2) What Was The First Home Video Game Console?
Magnavox released the first video game console, the Odyssey, in 1972. The Magnavox Odyssey looks like a paper weight or desk decoration rather than a console.
Nonetheless, at least 120,000 of these consoles were produced in its release year and around 69,000 units were sold.
Two controllers shipped with the console as well as dice and board game items.
Surprisingly, the Magnavox Odyssey didn’t support audio output and couldn’t display more than a few pixels on screen.
Magnavox included various overlays that could be affixed to the TV to provide more visual elements.
A total of 28 games released for the Odyssey, which sold 350,000 total units in its lifespan.
(source: wikipedia)
3) What Is The Oldest Computer Video Game?
“Tennis For Two” was the first computer video game designed as such. Previous “games” amounted to academic demonstrations or proof of concept demonstrations.
In 1958, William Higinbotham and Robert Dvorak built the game using an oscilloscope and two controllers. The visual representation shows a tennis court side view, and players must angle their shots to hit the ball over the net.
A three-day exhibition at Brookhaven National Laboratory drew significant showcased “Tennis For Two”.
The event drew quite an audience of people wanting to play the game. At the following year’s event, improved hardware showcased the game. “Tennis For Two” was essentially dismantled afterward.
(source: wikipedia)
4) Game Console Market Share
As of March 2021, PlayStation dominates the console market share worldwide. Sony’s PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 have captured 65.8% of the market.
Microsoft has captured 34.1% of the market with its Xbox family of consoles.
Nintendo barely registers with a worldwide market share of 0.02% with the Switch and older consoles.
Gamers worldwide continue to deal with a tight marketplace for the current generation of consoles.
PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles are difficult to find due to semiconductor shortages and scalping problems.
On the other hand, the Nintendo Switch models are much less challenging to find on store shelves.
(source: statcounter)
5) The Top 5 Best-Selling Game Consoles Ever
Sony and Nintendo dominate the chart for best-selling video game consoles of all time.
In first place, the PlayStation 2 sold no less than 155 million units. The Nintendo DS (all versions) nearly matched that figure with 154.02 million units sold.
Nintendo found earlier success with the Game Boy and Game Boy Color. In their lifespans, those handhelds sold a combined 118.69 million units.
Finally, the PlayStation 4 and original PlayStation managed 114.9 million and 102.49 million units respectively.
Nintendo actually holds the number six spot, and Sony nabbed the number seven spot as well.
Microsoft doesn’t crack the best-selling list until number eight on the list with the Xbox 360 at 84 million units sold.
(source: wikipedia)
6) Buried Treasure of Atari Games Sells For $108,000
An urban legend once stated Atari buried hundreds of game cartridges in the desert.
Supposedly, this occurred at night in the Alamogordo City landfill. A documentary crew covered the excavation of the landfill in 2013, which yield the cache of cartridges.
They found a whopping 1,300 game cartridges, and hundreds of the cartridges were the 1982 title E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
Some people may know that game as the worst video game ever released. By 2015, the Alamogordo City Council had sold 881 of the cartridges for the sum of $108,000 on eBay.
That original documentary crew received 100 of the cartridges as well. The remaining games were donated or held in an archive.
(source: nbcnews)
7) The Largest Game Collection Features 20,000 Games and Counting
Antonio Monteiro owns 20,139 games and stores them in his home. He owns the world’s largest video game collection.
To verify the record, Guinness representatives spent eight days counting the collection.
Monteiro originally began his collection at age 12 and never stopped amassing games. That collection includes 100 video game consoles.
Surprisingly enough, Monteiro owns complete collections for certain gaming consoles.
(source: guinnessworldrecords)
8) How Many People Play Video Games Worldwide?
As of 2020, more than 2.7 billion people fall into the category as gamers. This includes 1.5 billion gamers in Asia-Pacific.
Gaming is no longer a niche hobby fancied by teenagers. Now people of all ages, sexes, and backgrounds play video games for fun and for profit.
These days, it’s not uncommon to see Twitch streamers and professional players create entire careers based on gaming.
(source: statista)
9) Playing Tetris Is Good For Your Health
A study once found that playing Tetris reduced the severity of craving. This covered cravings related to food, drugs, sex, and more.
In 2015, a similar study came to the same conclusion. Groups in the study were required to report their craving levels seven times per day. A subsection of the group was required to play Tetris for a few minutes and report on craving. Regardless of the specific day, the Tetris group reported a reduction in craving of 14%.
(source: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
10) Check Out The Latest Twitch Statistics
Twitch.tv spun off from Justin.tv a decade ago. In little time, Twitch gained a major following from streamers and viewers.
45 million unique visitors reached Twitch in 2013. Amazon purchased Twitch in August 2014 for nearly $1 billion. At that time, 55 million active users visited Twitch every month, accounting for nearly 2% of internet traffic.
As of February 2021, Twitch features 2.9 million concurrent viewers and 9.5 million streamers.
41% of users are between 16 and 24 years-old, while 65% of users are male. That month also saw 2 billion hours of content consumed collectively.
Unsurprisingly, most live streaming of game content occurs on Twitch.
(source: businessofapps)
11) What Is The Video Game Industry’s Market Value?
In 2021, the global video game industry is projected to be worth $138.4 billion. Few industries have seen such consistent growth as the gaming industry.
All sectors of the industry tend to see sustained growth, and gaming is now a mainstream hobby.
People play hundreds of hours per year of games. In fact, professional players and streamers may play games for thousands of hours annually.
It’s a gigantic industry that won’t slow down anytime soon. Consoles and PC gaming have seen consistent sales figures over the years.
By 2023, the gaming industry could be worth as much as $200 billion worldwide.
(source: statista)
12) Action Video Games May Promote The Learning of New Skills
Researchers have attributed various benefits to playing video games over the years.
A recent study found that action games, specifically, improve attentional control and learning.
Of course, action games require quick processing by the mind and include fast-paced gameplay.
The mind is trained to act on the fly and predict what’s going to happen on screen next.
This study found that action games improve attention more so than other genres of gaming.
In that same vein, action games appear to improve overall learning capabilities as well.
Players can better track moving objects and better process rapid changes in their environment.
These benefits allow individuals to make fewer mistakes while improving their attention and reaction times.
Without a doubt, it’s difficult to argue with the mounting research that playing video games (action games or not) comes with lifelong benefits.
(source: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
Sources:
1) Wikipedia 2) Wikipedia 3) Wikipedia 4) Statcounter 5) Wikipedia 6) NBC News 7) guinnessworldrecords 8) Statista 9) ncbi.nlm.nih.gov 10) businessofapps 11) Statista 12) ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Leave a Reply