Game On: The Explosion of Gaming into Mainstream Culture

May was a big month for virtual gaming and esports, with events like the GameExpo Summit in Dubai and more locally, Dublin’s GamerFest in the RDS. The surge in these large scale gaming events highlights how the gaming industry has expanded far beyond a small corner of the internet and into a multi-billion dollar industry at the forefront of gen z culture (estimated at $347b in 2022). 

This week's 52INSIGHTS takes a look at the evolution of gaming, sports and marketing.

The Evolution of Gaming and Sport

At the end of 2023, there were a whopping three billion gamers worldwide, with this number expected to grow right the way through 2024. E-gaming has surpassed both film and music in terms of revenue generating an estimated $184.4 billion revenue in 2022 versus $26.2 billion generated in music and $26 billion in film. Gaming is not just bigger, it’s also more diverse than ever before.  What was once a typically male dominant space, gaming is more inclusive than ever with an almost 50/50 gender split in the US (55% male vs 45% female). 

Unlike the N64's and Dreamcast's of old, today's gaming landscape has been transformed, driven by both technical advances and rapidly evolving gamer preferences. A brief timeline of the evolution of gaming into popular culture: 

'70s and '80s - Where it all began, the birth of the video game. Arcades became a cultural phenomenon and hub for socialisation. Later, home consoles were introduced for the first time with the Nintendo Entertainment System entering the chat. 

'90s - More sophisticated games were introduced which captured a wider audience through platforms like PC gaming, and reaching widespread fame through strategic partnerships, with PizzaHut including game demos with purchases of the ‘Big New Yorker’ pizza. Iconic characters brought cultural touch points to gaming such as Mario and Lara Croft - ‘brands’ that not only found their place in gaming culture but also became powerful marketing tools for brands like Lucozade. 

2000s -  Gaming got Social - this is when Multiplayer games landed. Added to that, smartphones drove downloads and engagement of ‘Angry Birds’ and ‘Candy Crush’ - further popularising gaming. More recently, the gaming giant ‘King’ reported that the viral game Candy Crush crossed the $20bn total revenue in 2023.

2020 -2024: Gaming is now a dominating form of entertainment with platforms like Roblox, Fortnite and Twitch forging the way in branded gaming collaborations due to their younger player demographics. Games are not only influencing, but being influenced by pop culture with high profile collabs between game developers and influential artists, musicians and filmmakers. Games like ‘Fortnite’ are the perfect example of this. 

What People May Know About Sport

• Soccer is the 4th most followed sport in America. The 2024 Champions League Final (Real Madrid V’s Borussia Dortmund) viewership was 3.62 million.
• The first ever Olympic Games took place in 1896 with 241 participants over 43 events.
• The Olympics, Paris 2024 will see over 400 events in 35 sports  with 11,300 participants from 206 nations.
• The 2024 Euros expects 71,000 spectators in the Olympiastadion in Berlin.
  

What People May Not Know About Gaming and esport

• ‘League of Legends World Championship 2023’ reached a viewership of 6.4 million. The most viewed esports event of all time. 
• The first ever official Olympics ESports Event took place in Singapore in June 2023 with 130 participants over 10 events. 
• With gaming and esports continuing to grow at a rapid rate it’s inevitable that it will reach the heights of the Olympic Games.
• In 2017 at the Intel Extreme Masters Katowice in Poland 173,000 spectators packed out the Spodak Arena.
  

So Why Do Young People Love Gaming and esports?

1. Community and Connectivity

Far from dark basements and online forums of the past, gamers enjoy how it gives a sense of community and belonging giving ‘gamers’ a social identity. The multiplayer aspect of gaming facilitates connection and interaction with friends real and virtual. 

2.Diversity and Accessibility

With gaming, there’s something for everyone. This feeling of being ‘seen’ and leaning into a niche hobby is something gen z cohorts crave. For those who would rather sit back and watch, the rise of esports and streaming platforms like Twitch has turned gaming into a huge spectator sport. Multi-platform games with varying skill levels and free-to-play games has enormously increased gaming’s accessibility.

3. Escapism and Immersion

With the uncertain times we’re living in, gen z craves escapism that gaming provides. Beyond escapism, some games offer the ultimate immersion resulting in self discovery. The sims campaign featuring Bretman Rock is a perfect example of this as it ‘helps a new generation come of age.’

“The thing with gaming is that it's very versatile. When I was younger, hours were spent on completing Super Mario or talking to my friends about how to catch a rare Pokémon. You got a sense of comradery with other people as you pursued the same goals. That said, the aspect of gaming that I absolutely love is when the story hits, it hits! I don't care how you play the game, if it invokes an emotion; anger or sadness, I'm sold." said Mark Luna, gamer, Dublin.

Marketing and Business Takeouts

Show up in a meaningful and credible way

Increasingly, brands are investing in the powerful gamer creator economy. With a projected revenue of more than $521 billion by 2027, hacking this creator economy offers a new playground to brands giving them the opportunity to show up in a meaningful and credible way. 

As part of Heineken 0.0’s partnership with Formula 1 the recently brand launched a brand new gaming platform Player 0.0. Player 0.0 allows fans battle it out (on desktop or mobile) to win the opportunity to race against F1 superstar Max Verstappen on sims at the Global Player 0.0 Final in Amsterdam. 

Colin Doyle, brand manager, Heineken Ireland said, “For Heineken® 0.0, the e-gaming space is especially interesting as the brand strives to become the beer brand of choice amongst all generations. Player 0.0 is  Heineken® 0.0’s first gaming platform and it aims to connect and interact with consumers in a more socially relevant way in today’s digital age. It’s allowed us to have a meaningful presence on new platforms such as Twitch. Over the course of four weeks, over 44,000 gameplays have resulted in 1800+ competitor entries. A huge level of engagement that only gaming could deliver.” 

Gaming is for every brand

And gaming is not just for ‘cool brands’ or ‘brands in sport’. US based tax filing company ‘TurboTax’ has collaborated with Fortnight to create Millionaire Tycoon, a game designed to recruit new gen z customers. Players build their own empires (through the acquisition of mansions, cars and other symbols of wealth.) but in order to ‘level up’ in the game they have to pay the taxman, typically by entering a TurboTax office inside the world. ‘Millionaire Tycoon’ has had over 1 million players in less than a month.