Video Games Go Boom Part 2

Video Games Go Boom is a series of opinion articles focused on various aspects of video game culture and the future of video games as entertainment. If you came here from a search engine, be sure to read the previous installments before continuing.

• Part 0 - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6

For every product on the market, dozens of people put their time into its design. Video games are incredibly complex products. Teams of graphics designers, gameplay designers, writers, programmers, level layout designers, producers and project managers, bug testers, localization teams, etc. work together to create that little shiny disk you pop into your gaming system. In all, thousands of people may be indirectly involved in the game you play. This means that video games are a big business. And it's growing fast. But can it keep growing forever?

Video Games Industry Swells

The video game industry is relatively young, barely over 20 years old. Most people have socks older than that. Just like a baby it grows faster than anyone can keep up with. And also like infants, video game developers (and consumers) love whatever is shiny and new. The "latest and greatest" in everything, now with more power and adrenaline to boot. The days of simple entertainment seem to be gone, swallowed by pixels, polygons and processing power.

As technology progresses, video games will continue to get more realistic and intricate. But is there an end to the advancements? There's no such thing as "more realistic than real life". At some point the bigger and better mentality has to cease. When that time will come is anyone's guess, but it will happen sooner or later. As the games we play become more complex, more people will be required to create them. People will flock to the video games market to fill these new jobs.

But here's the big question: Will the consumers, those people that fuel the industry with money, expand along with it?

If more consumers become gamers, the problem is solved. More money will be fed into the machine that will in turn churn out more games. However, if the percentages remain the same, game hardware and software prices can do only one thing: rise. Somehow more money must be brought into the industry to keep it running.

The video game industry caters to its clients: gamers. If it catered to non-gamers, well, that would be just plain stupid. Making products designed for avid gamers but marketing them to people who think a PlayStation is a sex toy is just asking for failure.

There is a way to reel in the non-gaming crowd. It involves that fun little word we've seen in the previous articles: simplicity. And it has a very real basis in the way we work as human beings.

Simple games do not have to be Pong, Frogger or Pac-Man. Simple does not mean simplistic. With a world so inundated with media, choices are all around us at every moment. Studies have proven that web users who see a host of menu options on a website will close their browser. But if you give them just a few choices, they'll stick around for more.

Our brain works in essentially the same way it always has. It must have a foundation on which to operate, and it grabs onto a few simple choices much more quickly than a dozen vague ones. After taking hold, it moves from there, always seeking something more interesting. Give the public simple games and simple gaming machines they can easily grasp. If they want complexity, give them that option. This caters to the largest possible crowd without alienating potential customers.

Future of Video Gamers

The rift between gamer and non-gamer will widen, but in the center will emerge "in-betweens", people who aren't quite gamers but who play video games. Casual gamers of today are the precursors to this, and they will become far more powerful in the eyes of the industry. These in-betweens take only what they like, aren't as susceptible to sequels and big-budget titles, and like their games accessible and inviting.

Hardcore gamers need something a little more than just moving a paddle to hit a ball, though, and their numbers will likely grow as well. The widening market will leave room for all of these groups and many more. And the industry will adapt in response.

In every field of knowledge, the progression of technology creates areas of specialty. Look at medicine, for example. In the past, one doctor per town was the expert in all things health related. Having a baby? He can help. Sore tooth? He can help. Now, if you have a problem with your feet, you can see one of a number of different specialists. Our knowledge in that field has grown deeper, unearthing too much for one person to master. The video gaming industry is still new, but it will follow the same pattern.

The future will hold something like this: more game companies, more hardware makers, more specialties. There may not be such a thing as "just" video games. Casual gamers, avid gamers, sometimes gamers, computer gamers, handheld gamers -- all will be real groups of people with real buying power.

Next Article

The big three hardware companies of today have slightly different strategies for winning the video games race. But this race won't be about muscle power or stomping the competition. It will be about carving out a space uniquely their own and competing within that realm. What will happen to Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft in the future? We'll find out...

Article Navigation

Wanna talk about what you've read? Head over to the Video Games Go Boom discussion area.

• Part 0: Introduction
• Part 1: Gamers and Non-Gamers
• Part 2: The Video Games Industry
• Part 3: Sony
• Part 4: Microsoft
• Part 5: Nintendo
• Part 6: Outroduction