With an estimated $200 billion in sales by the end of 2023, the global video games industry is rapidly growing. Almost half of this revenue will be generated from the fastest-growing market, mobile gaming.

So, where did everything begin? 

Video Games have a history of more than 69 years, and here is a quick highlighted journey.

It’s possible to date video games back to 1952. It was A.S. Douglas who developed “Noughts and Crosses.” the very first documented video game.

William A. Higginbotham was the first American to develop an interactive video game. In 1958, he invented ‘Tennis for Two.’ In 1962, “Space War.” was developed by Steven Russell.

In 1971, Nolan Bushnell created the first coin game style video game “Computer Space.” Later, Ralph Baer, referred to as “the Fathe of the computer game,” developed the first home game console, The Odyssey, capable of playing 12 different video games.

The first multi-game home console, Atari 2600, with plug-in cartridges that store video game details, was launched in 1977. 1978 saw Magnavox launching – a console system that consists of a full 49 essential keyboard- Odyssey 2.

The Japanese Company Namco brought the popular Pac-Man to the United States, in collaboration with America’s Midway in 1980. Pac-Man is the very first video game to have an animated character with its name.

Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto developed Donkey Kong, introducing “Mario” as a character in four levels. Miyamoto went on to end up being a market giant, followed by a string of successful video games, starting with Donkey Kong in 1981.

Software application huge Microsoft followed suit in 1982 and released its first variation of “Flight Simulator.”

The Americans, hitherto utilized to play video games on sluggish systems with practically minimal stereo, were overwhelmed by the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) launched in 1986. NES had 8-bit color graphics, fancy sound impacts, and faster video gameplay.

As video games grew popular and addictive, a slew of video games that were racist, pornographic, and violent to the core struck the market. This type of gaming reached a boiling point with the release of Mortal Kombat in 1992.

Following the Senate Investigation, the Entertainment Software Association established The Entertainment Software Rating Board in 1994. This board began by offering scores and video and video game content information. The ESRB has since evolved six rankings and 31 material descriptions that slot every video game into a specific classification.

While video games were growing abundant in content and presentation, the technology readily available to play them was not as good as one would have liked. The systems were either too expensive or did not have the finesse to play video games.

Innovation, at its finest, is readily available in the computer game market. Sony launched the 128-bit Play station 2 – the first console to utilize DVD technology – with much better graphics capability than a PC. This is one of the major turning points of the year 2000.

Wishing to cash in on the video game appeal, the U.S.Army gave away the game, America’s Army, for free. The motive was to draw in brand-new recruitment for the army. The video game ultimately became the top online action game in the nation in 2002.

While the army was positively utilizing video games, residents were worried about the effect of “cop-killer” games. Deciding enough, Washington State signed legislation prohibiting selling or renting cop-killer games to minors. This historical policy, fining violators up to $500, came into force in 2003.

What has been noted here is only about what can be termed as Major Milestones in the advancement of Video Games and does not claim to be a calendar of occasions in the history of computer games.

As video games grew addicting and popular, various video games that were racist, adult, and violent to the core hit the market. While the games were growing rich in material and discussion, the technology readily available to play the games was not as best as one would have liked it to be. Hoping to get in on the video game popularity, the U.S., provided away from the video game America’s Army, for totally free. The game eventually became the leading online action game in the country in 2002.

While the army was using video games favorably, citizens were concerned about the impact of “cop-killer” games.

With the Nintendo DS, an easy-to-use, portable gaming device equipped with two processors, two displays, multiplayer features, and a touchscreen stylus, in 2004, Nintendo retained its dominant handheld market. Great games helped, too, such as Super Mario Kart DS.

Nintendo Wii got gamers off the sofa in 2006 and moved with creative, motion-sensitive remotes. Nintendo not only makes gaming more active, but it also appeals to millions of individuals who have never liked video games before.

Many believe Snake, released in 1997 on the Nokia 6110, was the first mobile game, but the reality was three years earlier. 

Hagenuk MT-2000 mobile phone introduced a pre-installed version of the popular arcade game Tetris. 

The Nokia N-Gage, a featured phone and a handheld gaming device, was introduced by Nokia in October 2003. N-Gage tried to attract gamers away from game handhelds by providing a gaming experience on top of the mobile telephone features. However, this was partially unsuccessful because the phone’s architecture was not well-designed for gaming.

In 2009, the games’ industry was shaken by social games like Farmville and smartphone games like Angry Birds. Millions of people who would never have been gamers on new platforms like Facebook and the iPhone now spend hours playing games. 

Many successful mobile phone games were developed following the release of smartphones and the App Store and Google Play launch.

In 2012, the app stores launched one of the highest-grossing mobile games of all time: Candy Crush. The mobile game industry keeps developing, and new technology is being used to diversify and stand out, as seen in AR-based games such as Pokémon Go. Mobile games have brought an audience, not just the core players. Many mobile gamers belong to a target audience that does not identify as gamers. We see today in Hyper Casual games with demographic change, and players between the ages of 35 and 54 are now showing in the game’s statistics with a nearly 60 percent increase in gameplay among individuals 45 to 54.

Hyper-casual games broke into the mobile gaming industry in 2018, with games characterized by simplicity and competitive advantage. Helix Jump surprised the smartphone market and became the most downloaded game of 2018, with 334 million downloads, overtaking Fortnite and PUBG.

Video games surpass the income created by combined sports and movies and will continue to grow year after year.