Introduction
The video games industry has grown to become one of the biggest and most profitable media industries in the world.
Increasingly games can make more money than some of Hollywood’s biggest films.
Jurassic World was one of the highest grossing films of 2015, making an estimated ÂŁ336m in its opening weekend. Later that year, over the same time period, the game Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 generated ÂŁ361m.
Some of the most successful video games producers are:
- Ubisoft: (Assassin's Creed and Far Cry series)
- Bethseda: (Fallout and Skyrim series)
- Rockstar: (Red Dead Redemption and the GTA series)
- Valve: (Left 4 Dead and Half-Life series)
- Electronic Arts: (FIFA and The Sims series)
- Activision: (Call of Duty and Guitar Hero series)
UK spending
The UK Interactive Entertainment Organisation (UKIE) supports the video games industry in the UK. They provide research on game use, demographics and sales statistics - these help video game producers to tailor content to their audiences and maximise sales.
According to UKIE, the UK industry was worth ÂŁ3.9 billion through gamer spending in 2014 and ÂŁ4.2 billion in 2015.
Gamers
GameTrack, a tracking survey commissioned by the Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE), found that 20 million people in the UK aged 6-64 play video games - this is around 42% of the population.
The survey results suggest that gamers can be found in all groups and genders - this demographic is reflected globally.