Welcome to So What Gaming, where a gaming enthusiast will take her spin on happenings impacting the gaming space.
Before we start, let me introduce myself. My name is Sophia Weng and I love video games. I grew up playing a ton of video games (my parents weren’t a fan), from MMORPGs (Flyff, Maplestory, Perfect World) on PC to Pokemon and Fire Emblem on Game Boy. My favorite childhood game was Fly For Fun (Flyff) - anyone remember that? Proud Lawolf server veteran here!
After college, I spent some time in finance before moving to the corporate strategy and business development role at Activision Blizzard. There, I spent a ton of time thinking about the industry, opportunities and how we can position ourselves to grow.
Games have evolved a ton in the last two decades. They have become richer in content, more diverse in genres and broader in reach. Below is a neat infographic on the evolution of the gaming market from 1972-2020
The market growth is also astonishing. The industry grew from ~$60B USD in 2009 to ~$152B USD in 2019. That is ~10% CAGR over 10 years! The absolute size of the market is also incredible - the 2019 global gaming market dwarfs the music, box office and video-on-demand markets combined! It is
7.5x the global music market (~$20B USD)
4x the global box office market (~$40B USD)
2.5x the global video-on-demand market (~$60B USD)
By some measures, there will be ~3B gamers worldwide by 2023, with majority of them on smartphones. That’s ~40% the worldwide population! How cool is that!
I am super excited about the growth of the market and opportunities ahead. I would love for more people to learn about industry, cool games, and maybe even try out a few games. That’s why I am starting this newsletter. In this series, I will cover
Industry musings
Game teardown
Company teardown
New game spotlight
more to come
I plan to update twice a month. I look forward to this journey and hope you can come along for the ride.
— Sophia
In the meantime, tell your friends!