Gaming is big business and has come a long way from the arcade machines that were first released during the ’70s and ’80s, the predecessors of today’s games consoles and at the recent PLAY Expo in Manchester Arcade classics were available to play alongside classic consoles, modern consoles, PC games and the up and coming Virtual Reality games. According to the Manchester Evening News, the Play Expo was one of the biggest events to be held at EventCity to date. Gamers and developers connected over the weekend of the 14th and 15th of October.
For example, in the indie developer’s zone gamers got to try games developed in the UK that were as of yet unreleased and offer their feedback on the games themselves. As well as the Indie games, attendees also got to try their hand at classic pinball machines. Not only were there 100 free to play machines but there was also a competition open to all. Free options at the 2017 PLAY Expo included pinball machines and classic arcade games.
eSports tournaments were once again a big part of the Expo. Both free and pay-to-play tournaments were available, most notable was the Manchester Battle Arena and Versus Scotland online gaming communities. The exhibition tournaments saw gamers from both communities facing off in King of Fighters XIV, Street Fighter V, Guilty Gear Xrd: Revelator 2, Tekken 7 and the new Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite. Attendees who wanted to join in on the competitive action got to take part in tournaments over the course of the weekend as well.
Given how popular gaming has become it is no surprise that gaming sectors such as Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are expected to grow in the same way by 2021 and that year alone it is projected that the world gaming market is set to generate a high of £113.7 billion as reported by online magazine VentureBeat. By the year 2021, sales could even exceed £151.6 billion.
The gaming industry is going from strength to strength as is the iGaming industry, with many advances making their way into the online casino UK market, in addition to casinos very quickly adopting new tech developments, like live streaming with live casino games, for instance. Traditional slot machines that were typically found alongside classic arcade games are now available online and traditional table games now have more interactive options available such as with live dealers. Today, online casinos also have progressive jackpots and the more people play, the bigger they are.
Looking ahead, the largest share of sales will be in the still booming mobile games market with £37.9 billion spent in 2017. Mobile games reach a very large group of buyers through the Apple App Store and Google Play, and they usually finance themselves through microtransactions or advertising. The rapid rise is closely linked to the IT revolution.
From the PC to the console to smartphones, everything is now used to play games. Expanding along with the digital technologies that have taken us from arcade machines to the dawn of virtual reality, gaming will always be big business.
